In the Dark
by TheCuriousWriter
Summary: Perry is protective over his naive owners, especially since he almost lost them in the alternate dimension fiasco. He never expected them to get put in harm's way ever again until someone kidnaps Phineas, leaving no name but lots of cruel intentions.
1. A Nighttime Visitor

Author's Note: I read a few stories that used this plot, and I was inspired to try it out. Hopefully the first chapter is okay.

Disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb.

In the Dark

Chapter One: A Nighttime Visitor

Dr. Doofenshmirtz had taken longer than expected to defeat, leaving Perry to return home past the boys' bedtime. He stared at their closed bedroom door, debating whether or not it was worth the risk of exposing his secret agent identity just to turn the doorknob. After nearly losing his family a few weeks ago, he did not want press his luck with the agency.

Letting his eyes stare off into space, giving off a cross-eyed appearance, Perry sat on the ground and made a chattering noise, hoping that either Phineas or Ferb were not in a deep stage of sleep. After their exciting and adventure-filled days, the boys tended to sleep like a log at night.

He waited, listening throughout the quiet house for the sound of bedsprings or footsteps padding softly against the floor, but nothing happened. He chattered again, hoping that it would do the trick this time, but neither Phineas nor Ferb opened their door for him.

Perry stood up on all fours. Theoretically, he could just sleep on the couch for tonight, but a bed provided him with more restful sleep. He knew better than to intrude in his owners' parents' bed, so he headed down the hall to a door that had been left open slightly ajar.

Even in the darkness, the different shades of pink and purple seemed to overcome his sense of sight. Candace's room was a bit hard on the eyes for him, but her bed was even comfier than the boys' beds. Yes, she hated it when he slept in her room, and she especially hated it when he slept on her bed, but Candace had unpredictable mood swings. Sometimes she would scream and cringe when she saw him, other times she would hiss at him to leave, and then there were times when she allowed him to be in her presence.

The most notable time had been on his day off when the boys had decided to wash the house. Dr. Doofenshmirtz had somehow messed up his own plans before Perry arrived at the scene, so Major Monogram gave him the rest of the day off. Since the boys were out building another crazy invention of theirs, Perry decided to go see what the loud girl was to since she was nowhere to be seen.

He found Candace passed out on her bedroom floor, murmuring something in her sleep. Concerned, he went over to her and made a chirp-like sound to try to rouse her from her sleep. Instead of waking up, Candace weakly tried to push him away from her while she was still in a state of sleep. Perry could not leave her lying on the floor in this state, so he broke his act as a mindless animal and stood up on his hind legs. He grabbed the sleeping girl and dragged her up onto her bed, making sure to rest her head against a soft pillow in case she had hit it when she wound up on the ground.

At this thought, Perry checked her over for injuries, and he thankfully came up with none. Candace and he may not have gotten along as well as he did with his owners, but she was still a part of his family. Even her obsession with busting her brothers stemmed from the reason that she did not want them to put themselves in jeopardy during their outrageous projects. Perry had to respect her for that.

When Candace finally woke up, she had noticed immediately that Perry had been sleeping right next to her on the bed, but she did not retaliate in her usual discuss. She allowed him to remain on her bed and in her room, even when she left on the large unicycle ride that her brothers had built.

Hopefully Candace would be in the same mood as she was when she woke up that day.

Perry used his skills to maneuver quietly over to the pink bed with a darker pink flower pattern on the covers. Candace snored softly while spread out in the middle of the bed, so Perry gingerly situated himself on one side of the bed, tucking his legs under his body as he curled up slightly in a position for sleep. He waited for a bit until he was Candace was not going to stir anytime soon, and then he fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

><p>"Perry!" Said platypus opened his eyes, alarmed at the shrill tone of voice at such an early hour. Judging by the light that spilled into the room through Candace's window, the sun had not been up for more than a couple hours. "Ew! What are you doing on my bed?"<p>

Candace nearly tore the covers off her body and hopped off her bed, marching angrily over to the side Perry was sleeping on. She grabbed him roughly under his arms and unceremoniously dropped him a foot or so to the floor. Perry landed on his feet, of course, but he was annoyed at having been manhandled in such a way when he had just woken up. He had not been bothering the teenaged girl, so he really did not understand what the fuss was all about.

"C'mon, scram! Out!" she ordered, pointing to her door. She followed him to make sure that he left her room, and then she turned to face the direction her brothers' room was in.

"PHINEAS! FERB! Stop letting Perry sleep in my room!" An accompanied door slam followed Candace's piercing voice, and Perry looked over his shoulder at the now-shut door. If he was not worried about Phineas and Ferb coming out of their rooms now, he would have openly mocked the girl openly, but instead he decided to head over to the boys' room. They had to be up now, so he might as well help them get ready to start the day before he headed off on his newest mission.

As Perry approached the room, he heard a lot of shuffling and moving noises from inside it. Something sounded as if it was knocked over, and then something sounded as if it was being thrown. He sat down in front of the door, waiting for one of his owners to open the door so that he could see what was going on in there.

It did not take long for Perry to find out, for not even a moment later did Ferb burst out of the room, letting the bedroom door slam loudly against the wall. Perry was nearly trampled by the green-haired boy as he rushed by, looking inside every room as he went. Perry watched him, not sure of what to make of his owner's sudden frenzy. Was he looking for something?

Perry made his move and walked into the boys' bedroom, expecting to see Phineas either in the same state as Ferb or in the same confusion as Perry. He glanced around the room, but no redhead met his vision. The covers on Phineas' bed were still rumpled, meaning that Phineas had uncharacteristically left the room without making it. A slightly crumpled pieced of paper appeared on top of the messy covers too.

Suspicion crept in the back of Perry's mind as he waddled over to the piece of paper. He grabbed it and quickly placed it on the ground to make it seem as though it had fallen off the bed. Strange letters that looked as though they had been cut out from various magazines littered the page, but its message was still readable.

_Without the boy, there will never be a day filled with fun. Prepare to live out the worst days of your life._

Time seemed to stop as Perry finished reading the message. He felt numb. This was not happening. He had just gotten Phineas back a few weeks ago. This could not be happening again.

"Someone took Phineas!" Ferb shouted, raising his voice to a level he had never used in his entire existence. "He's been kidnapped!"

Perry felt sick.


	2. Analyzing the Evidence

Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the feedback! I hope that you enjoy chapter two just as much.

Chapter Two: Analyzing the Evidence

Linda and Lawrence tried to remain calm, thinking of all the possible places Phineas could be at seven in the morning. The volume of Ferb's voice was enough to rattle the entire family, but Ferb was just a child. Phineas could have slept-walked or decided to go to a neighbor's house for some reason or another. They had to be rational about all of this and not resort to Candace's overactive imagination. There had not been a case of kidnapping in Danville in over eighty years. Phineas' couldn't have possibly been kidnapped.

Ferb then showed them the note, and a parent's worst nightmare came to life.

Perry was not allowed inside the boys' bedroom as the police searched it for evidence. This meant that he could not do any searching of his own, but when he had gone in the room earlier and read the note, he noticed that nothing in the room seemed out of place. There were no imprints in the carpet, the window ledge had no handprints on it, and it seemed like there was relatively no struggle from Phineas. This did not pinpoint who or what took Phineas, but it did leave the platypus with the notion that someone of advanced skill snatched him.

"Are you sure that you and your family had no enemies? Someone who held ill will towards any member for any reason?" one of the policemen with a notepad and pencil asked Linda and Lawrence. They looked at each other, and Perry couldn't help but notice how pale they were. Tears leaked out of the corner of Linda's eyes, but she kept her composure in front of her family.

Lawrence slowly shook his head. "No... We've always gotten along relatively well with everyone, and Phineas never had a problem with anyone." He looked down at Ferb who was standing in front of Candace. Candace had her hands on his shoulders, keeping the shivering boy upright. Ferb looked up at his father and mimicked his slow shake of the head, confirming that he did not know anyone who held ill will towards his brother.

Candace pulled Ferb back to lean against her front, giving him a small, comforting hug. She felt as if she could not let Ferb out of her sight. Losing one of her brothers was hard enough.

"Y-You'll find him?" she asked the police officer. "Right?"

The police officer looked over the Flynn-Fletcher family before he responded with, "We'll do our best."

With all due respect to the law enforcers of this city, Perry did not think their best would be enough.

Making his way to the backyard, Perry noted that there would be no way for him to use one of his secret passageways to get to his lab without being seen by someone. He needed to find out if Major Monogram had any information to offer him. The entire house had always been closely monitored by the agency's surveillance, so they had to have picked up something. He slightly wondered why Major Monogram or even Carl had not tried to contact him already. This was an emergency situation, and Perry desperately needed a course of action. He could not go searching blindly for Phineas!

He would if he had to, though.

"Whoa, what is that?" Perry scurried through the backdoor, listening to a police officer who was in the backyard. He was standing next to the wooden fence, pointing down at something on the ground. Another police officer walked over to see what he was talking about. Perry ventured closer to see too.

"It...looks like a hole," the other police officer responded, unsure of what his fellow officer was so intrigued about. "An animal probably dug it."

"Yeah, but it's pretty deep, and it seems very smooth." The police officer took a closer look at it, but he noticed that the other officer was just giving him an annoyed look. "Dogs usually make a mess when they dig, but there is no dirt scattered anywhere."

The other officer sighed. "Yeah, well, they have a pet platypus. It probably dug the hole, and anyway, it's just a hole. Be serious, man."

"Fine," the police officer said, walking with his partner to the other side of the yard. "It's just getting frustrating finding absolutely no evidence to go along with that note. That thing's the only proof that a kidnapping even took place!"

Perry stopped listening to the two officers and got a closer look at the hole. The police officer had been right when he said that there was no mess. The hole had been perfectly dug, and its design was in a pretty odd way. For one, there was no slant that signaled something was digging through to the other side of the fence. The hole went straight down about a foot deep, and there were three ridges that lined the hole. The bottom was not a point, but a perfect square.

He took offense that the police officers blamed him for this. As if any of them knew what a platypus dug like.

While the hole didn't seem to be dug for an animal to reach the other side of the fence, it still enabled Perry to look through the open bottom of the fence and see a bit of the other yard. He peered closely at the grassy land, trying to see if there was anything unusual about the other yard.

Two more identical holes about a couple meters apart from each other and the hole in front of Perry greeted his sight. These strange holes had to be related to the disappearance of his owner. Perry was willing to bet his life on it.

"Perry! There you are!"

Perry stopped focusing intently on the holes and made his eyes cross so that he was not staring in any particular direction. Candace and Ferb rushed over to him, and Ferb immediately scooped him up from the ground, holding him tightly in his arms.

Candace gave him a worried frown. "No running off today. You're going to stick like glue to Ferb and me. Whoever kidnapped Phineas could be waiting for a chance to take one of us, and the kidnapper could be some crazy, psycho that has something against families so he won't stop until—" Ferb had been gripping Perry even tighter now, but Perry could not blame him. He would have glared at Candace if he could have.

Candace rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, glad that she stopped her rambling before she traumatized her little brother any further. "Sorry, Ferb. Don't listen to me. I-I didn't mean—"

Ferb relaxed his grip on his brother's and his pet, signaling that he had accepted Candace's apology. Candace gave a defeated look, uncertain if she should open her mouth again. She looked off to the side, thinking of what to say, but a look of confusion suddenly dawned upon her face and she blinked. Annoyance quickly replaced her expression.

"Perry! Why are you digging holes in the backyard? Ugh! Now I have to fill that up later!" she complained, giving the platypus a short glare. "C'mon, let's go back inside before he decides to dig up any more of the yard."

Perry inwardly frowned at her accusation, but he noticed that Ferb seemed to be staring intently at the hole with the same curiosity Perry had. He did not stop to examine the hole, though, and instead followed Candace back inside the house.

Linda and Lawrence were sitting on their family couch in the living room, right under one of Perry's secret passageways. Perry wondered if he could get the family to leave for a second so that he could slip away to his lab, but unlike the other times when Perry snuck away from his family, Perry felt guilty about it this time. He knew that his disappearance would throw them into an even worse panic, and Ferb seemed to be in enough of a fragile state. As the boy's pet, he did not want to leave his side until Ferb was able to handle being on his own, but as a secret agent, he needed to leave his side so that he could utilize more advanced equipment that would allow him to track down Phineas.

Ferb carefully placed Perry on the ground, trusting that his platypus would not wander away from him. Perry moved himself a bit closer to his owner until his side was touching Ferb's leg, trying to let the boy know that he was here for him. Ferb absentmindedly patted his head, and Perry realized that perhaps Ferb was trying to comfort him too.

Anger boiled in the pit of Perry's stomach. How dare someone take away Phineas from them! How dare they enter Perry's domain and snatch someone who would never hurt a fly! Whoever took him would pay dearly. Perry did not take harm, emotional or physical, to his boys very well at all.

"Have they found anything?" Candace voiced, breaking through the tension. Linda tried to be brave and answer her daughter, but her voice got caught in her throat, and she quickly looked down while some more tears spilled freely from her eyes.

"No, not yet," Lawrence answered solemnly, putting a consoling arm around his wife. "We're not giving up hope. They'll find him."

Perry chattered, echoing Lawrence's words of reassurance. Even if the police did not find him, Perry would. He'd bring him back.

Candace paced in front of them, something that comforted her when situations felt out of her control. "There has to be something we could do. I need to call Stacy. We read all those detective stories together."

No one had the heart to tell Candace that fictional detective stories would not give her the information or help that she needed. Real detectives were already working the case. As she dialed Stacy's speed-dial number on her pink cellphone, Perry figured that Linda and Lawrence were letting her use this as a way to cope with her youngest brother's disappearance. Candace was and always would be a person of action. Perry had no doubt that she would not give up searching for Phineas until he was back in their house.

He had never respected the girl more so than he had just now.

"Candace is right," Linda spoke, causing the family members who were not preoccupied on the phone to turn their attention to her. "I'll call Charlene. Maybe the more the word gets out, the more help we could get. Someone in this city has to know something."

"Brilliant thinking, dear!" Lawrence grinned sincerely at his wife. "I'll go drive around and ask the citizens for any information they can offer us."

Linda nodded, hugging her husband tightly before she stood up from the couch. She whispered a "thank you" into his ear, giving her husband a small smile. She turned to Ferb and leaned down to speak to him.

"Ferb, please do not leave the house. I'm going to tell Candace to stay with you," she told him, and both already knew that Candace would not let Ferb out of her sight. As it was, she stood near the sliding glass doors that led to the back yard, talking on the phone to Stacy and glancing every so often at her Ferb as she did so.

Linda smiled for Ferb, trying to relinquish some of his fears, and gave him a soft peck on the top of his head. She then headed to the kitchen, dialing the number of her friend Charlene while reaching for their phone book that they kept in one of the kitchen cabinets.

"I guess we should do something too," Ferb quietly said to his pet platypus. He looked down, expecting to see Perry staring off into space, but there was no one there.

In the back of his mind, he heard the echo of his brother ask, "Hey, where's Perry?"

* * *

><p>Perry looked from side to side down the hallway until he came upon one of the vents in the wall that was close to the floor. He whipped out his brown fedora and placed it on his head before he effortlessly lifted the cover up and slipped inside the vent, immediately finding himself sliding down a curved tube. In no time he popped out of the tube and landed perfectly on top of his work chair. The screen in front of him flashed blue before it focused on the top half of Major Monogram.<p>

"Agent P! We have been trying to contact you all morning, but it seems like something has been jamming our signals since last night," Major Monogram reported, putting Perry's mind at ease that the agency had been trying to contact him at least. Major Monogram continued to relay the information he had, ordering Carl to bring up videos and pictures from last night. Perry frowned as each video and picture came up distorted, black-screened, or simply as white-and-black static.

"As you can see, none of our technology was able to capture anything during the boy's disappearance." Major Monogram looked away from Perry for a moment, knowing that his top-agent would not like hearing this. "Whoever kidnapped Phineas knew about your secret identity and had the capabilities to get past our system."

Perry's eyes widened. Whoever kidnapped Phineas had a connection to him? It was Perry who had put Phineas in danger?

Major Monogram cleared his throat, snapping Perry out of a state of cold horror. "We have been keeping an eye out for any unusual activity, and it turns out that Doofenshmirtz has been stealing hundreds of magazines from around the Tri-State Area."

Perry recalled the strange letters on the note the kidnapper left. They had been taken from various magazines.

Perry saw red.

He barely heard Major Monogram's voice as he grabbed his jetpack and zoomed out of his lab with only one thing in mind: Destroying Doofenshmirtz.


	3. Taking Action

Author's Note: Thank you for all of your support so far! An anonymous reviewer made a suggestion about the plot of the story, and since she left no e-mail, I'm leaving my response to her in the author's note.

candy sandy 001, I like silent rescuers, and Phineas would just talk throughout the entire thing. :)

In all seriousness, though, I think you should watch the cartoon more and get a feel for Ferb's character and understand why Phineas has more bonding time with the other characters of the show.

I hope this cleared up some stuff for you! Now for the chapter!

Chapter Three: Taking Action

"Ferb!" The green-haired boy looked up just in time for a blur of pink to lunge at him. On reflex, he extended his arms and caught the hispanic-jewish girl before she crashed into him. She looked up at him with teary, dark blue eyes. "Why? Why would they take him? Why would they take Phineas?"

That had been the question mulling around Ferb's head since he had gotten over the initial shock of waking up to Candace's scream and finding his brother gone. He had read the note a million times over, trying to piece together anything that would even hint at who had taken Phineas. There just seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. He had almost even turned to have his brother give his two cents on it before he realized he couldn't.

Isabella sniffed, gripping Ferb's white-collared shirt tightly. Her mother had received a call from Phineas and Ferb's mother that morning, explaining what had happened. Isabella had been in the kitchen eating cereal, and the look on her mother's face had been enough to make stomaching the rest of her food too difficult a task.

"Isa," she had shakily called, looking at her daughter with such a grave expression that Isabella felt whatever her mother wanted to say was not something that she wanted to hear. "Have you seen Phineas?"

Her heart stopped. "N-Not since yesterday... Why?"

It had been a tearful explanation, and Isabella refused to believe her mother at first until she looked out her window and saw the cop cars parked across the street. She screamed and cried, begging for this to all be a bad dream, but when nothing changed, she realized the truth. Phineas was gone...

Isabella reluctantly let go of Ferb, willing to stop herself from crying anymore. Ferb did not seem upset over her outburst, though. He seemed calm. He seemed calculating.

Phineas may have been their creative fuel and leader, but Ferb was the brains behind everything. Isabella realized that Ferb was trying to think of the next step to take.

"Whatcha doin'?" Isabella quietly asked, not wanting to disturb Ferb's train of thought. He didn't vocally respond to her as Phineas would have done, but instead he grabbed her wrist and led her through the house, bringing her outside to the backyard.

"HEY!" A loud voice startled the two of them, and they looked behind them to see Candace storming out of the house after them. "Where do you two think you're going? Isabella, why aren't you at home with your mom? You two should be inside!"

"Hello, Candace," Isabella meekly greeted, not sure of how to respond to the riled, older girl. "Ferb was just showing me something."

The two girls looked over to Ferb, who had chosen to continue to his destination. He stopped at the hole Candace and he had seen earlier with Perry. He wondered why Perry had been standing by it when they had come out to fetch him, but now he realized that perhaps his pet platypus had found an important clue. So much for a platypus not doing much. He wondered if Perry had gone off to uncover even more clues. He doubted it, but Perry's disappearance, which was not unusual but always sudden, had him thinking that there may have been more to his pet platypus than Phineas and he had thought.

Candace crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her little brother as she walked over to him. "What? I said I would fill in that hole later Get back inside—"

"This was not dug by an animal," Ferb stated, taking both Candace and Isabella by surprise. "Look."

Candace and Isabella shared a glance before they looked down at the hole, trying to see what Ferb was getting at. A frown etched across Isabella's face as she failed to come up with a type of animal that was known to dig like that. Fireside Girls were trained animal trackers, and she had her badges to prove it, so if she couldn't place the hole with a specific type of animal and Ferb couldn't, then that had to mean that something else made this hole. But how was this related to Phineas?

"Oh, c'mon! Perry had to have dug it," Candace scoffed, looking back at Ferb.

Isabella shook her head. "No... This hole is too neat." She looked up at Ferb, unable to piece together what this meant.

Instead of offering his explanation on the matter, Ferb got down on the ground and turned his head sideways so that he was facing under the fence. Candace groaned, unsure of what kind of charade Ferb was trying to put on, but Isabella watched him carefully. Ferb blinked. And blinked again. He then picked himself off the ground and walked over to the wooden fence. He jumped up and grabbed the top of the fence, pulling himself forward so that he could peer over the top of it.

Candace, being taller than the fence, stood next to Ferb and looked over it to see what had her stepbrother so engrossed. Isabella mimicked Ferb, and once she was able to see over the fence, she realized just what had gotten Ferb's attention.

Two identical holes were in the backyard, and they were all spaced out evenly from each other. This had to mean something, but Isabella was still not sure what. Whatever made those holes had to be the same thing. That was all she got from this.

Ferb let go of the fence, landing on his feet on the grassy ground. Isabella followed him, still looking at her crush's brother for answers. Candace seemed just as confused as she was, so she, too, waited to hear Ferb's rendition of what the holes meant.

"Judging by the circumference and depth, only a heavy object would be capable of sinking into the ground that much," Ferb started, kneeling down to examine the hole some more. "The inside is smooth and has three ridges, meaning something with a triangular-prism shape made this mark."

Neither girl comprehended what Ferb was getting at. Ferb sighed, never realizing how easy it was to have Phineas explain things in terms the others, aside from Baljeet, would understand.

"I think a machine made this mark. A tripod, to be exact."

Now that both girls understood.

"Wait, wait," Candace said, waving her arms to get their attention. "Are you saying that you think someone in a tripod kidnapped Phineas?" Ferb just stared at her, so Candace took that as a yes. "Then wouldn't there be more imprints in the ground? Like, to get over to the house and then to walk away?"

"Not if it was capable of flying," Isabella said, furrowing her eyebrows. "That would explain why there are no prints and such anywhere."

"Then why are there imprints here?" Candace demanded to know. She started growing irritated from the clues not coming together. Yes, there had to be a connection between these imprints in the ground and Phineas' disappearance, but nothing seemed to add up.

"It had arms."

The thought had no inflection in it, meaning Ferb was not including it as a possibility; he was including it as a fact. He had been wondering all day how a person could sneak inside their room without making a sound. They had shut their door that night, which explained what Perry was doing in Candace's room despite both boys telling him to not go in there, and Ferb knew the sound of the knob rattling when it turned or the creak of the door opening would have woken one of the boys up. Also, who would take the time to shut the door and take an unnecessary risk being caught? The only logical explanation is that the intruder came through the window that they had left open to let the cool, fresh, summer night air into the room.

Ferb swore he would nail every last window shut once they found Phineas.

If the tripod had an arm, it could easily reach their bedroom window from this distance and snatch his brother right out of his bed. The thought sickened Ferb at how easy it was to steal his brother away from him right out from under his nose. Phineas had been put in peril and he just continued to obliviously sleep away.

"Who could have done this?" Isabella echoed a question everyone had been asking themselves.

Ferb tried to think of anyone who could be capable of building a tripod and evil enough to use it to kidnap Phineas. He thought back to the note the kidnapper had left. It was not a ransom note, but if the kidnapper took the time to leave one, then that meant that kidnapping Phineas was something personal. The note also talked about there never being another day filled with fun, which had to relate to their daily projects.

Someone knew them quite well from the looks of things, meaning the suspect had to be from Danville. They would just have to figure out which people complained about their activities on a day-to-day basis.

Ferb noticed that Candace and Isabella were still waiting for him to continue on with his theory. He wondered if this is what Phineas felt like when everyone always looked to him for answers.

"Someone in Danville took Phineas." Candace and Isabella's eyes widened. Before they could ask how he knew, Ferb continued on with his plan. "We need to find out if anyone knows of someone who complained about our projects—no, not you, Candace."

"Right," Isabella agreed with a nod. "I'll go get the Fireside Girls to start asking around."

"Wait," Candace stopped her, "shouldn't we be telling the police this?"

"The police are doing all they can right now," Ferb stated, "but they do not have the communication prowess of a fifteen-year-old girl."

His sister gave a short stare at him before she grinned. "True. I'll call Stacy, Jeremy, Jenny, the track team—"

Ferb nodded, following his sister and Isabella inside the house. He headed over to their home phone, intent on making a call himself.

Nervous, he picked up the phone and dialed a number he had easily learned by heart. He heard the phone on the other end ring a few times before a melodious voice greeted him. Ferb inhaled deeply before he talked into the phone.

"Vanessa, it's Ferb. I need your help."

They were going to find Phineas before the day ended.

* * *

><p>Perry spied on his nemesis from outside the apartment. He could have jumped right into the evil lair with his guns blazing, as he would have for any other mission, but this time it was different. Doofenshmirtz had made it personal, so Perry was not going in there as a respected secret agent, but as an over-protective pet.<p>

A low growl worked its way up his throat as he pictured his young owner scared and alone, probably held in some degrading trap. He hoped it was not as bad as when the Doofenshmirtz from the other dimension put them all in heavy chains. Then again, Perry was in front of Phineas when that had happened, and he did his best to keep the boy out of harm's way. Phineas had been scared, just as anyone in their right mind would be, but had he been alone, he'd have been terrified. Perry was sure of this.

"This is brilliant!" Perry listened more closely to his nemesis' voice. He had to gather all the information he could on Phineas' state. If Phineas were unconscious, he'd be able to beat Doofenshmirtz to a pulp and retrieve his owner without having to reveal his identity to the boy. It was a weird thing to hope for, but Perry knew the agency would never use the amnesia-nator again. Using it once was one thing, but they had no idea about the long-term effects of anything created by Doofenshmirtz, and his inventions tended to have a poor record when it came to reliability. Of course, anything that was built through a self-destruct sequence was bound to have complications.

Perry looked through the corner of the window, trying to keep out of sight. There were too many things blocking his way, but from this distance he was still able to make out a mop of unruly brown hair. Perry narrowed his eyes, having difficulty containing his anger.

"It's foolproof!" Doofenshmirtz declared, waving his arms in the air with uncontainable excitement. "After studying the success of other known evil overlords, I have figured the common factor that brings them all together!" Perry could just hear the maniacal grin in his voice. "Ruthlessness in their evil pursuits is a must—write this down, Norm!"

"Yes, sir!" Perry heard the robot reply from somewhere within evil lair.

"Yes," Doofenshmirtz resumed his lecture. "And focusing their first attack on something so innocent—" Phineas "—and defenseless—" Phineas "that it brings everyone's guard and spirit down!" The red crept back into Perry's vision, and he struggle to control his natural instincts. "With this they would have to listen to my evil demands, and then I'll soon be ruler over the Tri-State Area! Muawhahahaha—"

Perry threw himself through the thick glass window, landing on his hind legs on the tiled ground with shards of glass falling around him. Doofenshmirtz turned to look at him.

"Ah, Perry the Platypus. So nice of you to join—" Before Doofenshmirtz could finish his usual greeting, Perry lunged at him. It completely broke their routine, but Perry could care less about that.

He tackled Doofenshmirtz to the ground, causing the evil scientist to give a yelp of surprise. Doofenshmirtz landed harshly on his back, and Perry gleefully imagined the sharp pain shooting up his nemesis' back.

"Ow!" Doofenshmirtz squeaked, still recovering from the fall. "Hey, you didn't even give me time to catch you in my trap!"

Perry growled warningly at the vile man, grabbing the collar of his white lab coat and forcing Doofenshmirtz to look up at him. Doofenshmirtz looked him right in the eyes, and it looked as though he was about to say something, but he faltered, noticing the feral appearance his nemesis had taken. Perry continued to growl and glare at him, daring the evil scientist to try to make one move and see how far he gets.

"Wh-What is with you?" Doofenshmirtz asked. As a response, Perry tightened his grip on Doofenshmirtz's lab coat, digging his feet into the man's small chest as he did so. "Ow, ow, ow! Stop it!"

Doofenshmirtz made a move to throw him off, but Perry simply punched the evil scientist's jaw hard enough to send him reeling back to the floor in pain. Doofenshmirtz let loose a cry of pain, but Perry felt it was well deserved.

Doofenshmirtz weakly looked back up to see Perry the Platypus still looming over him. He was so confused over his nemesis' change in behavior. It almost felt like they were no longer frenemies at this point. Had Perry the Platypus grown bored with their relationship and was now tired of playing around? No, no. Doofenshmirtz was an exciting guy. Maybe it concerned something about his evil plans this time? Usually Perry the Platypus would just thwart him, but he recalled a time when the secret agent had completely bypassed their routine like this and just arrested him, except this time Perry the Platypus did not seem all that interested in arresting him.

"I didn't know you were so interested in what I'm holding hostage," Doofenshmirtz commented, and Perry's fur crawled at his nonchalant tone, as if Phineas did not matter one way or another. "I-If you feel that strongly about it, then take it. I-I didn't really plan an all-out battle with you today, and you're not going to let me near my newest in-nator anytime soon, so... You win this time. Curse you, Perry the Platypus. Now let me up."

Perry did let him up, but before Doofenshmirtz could stand to his full height, Perry slapped on one side of a pair of handcuffs to Doofenshmirtz's right wrist and dragged him over to a nearby pipe where he cuffed the other end. The evil scientist whined the entire way, griping about how unfair this all was. He sounded a bit like his teenaged daughter.

"Great, just great," Doofenshmirtz pouted. "I didn't even get to explain my evil scheme to you. How do you even know it's evil? Just because I'm calling it an evil scheme? Ha! Evil is very vague, ya know? It could mean anything!"

Everything had gone according to plan, and now all that was left was for Perry to locate Phineas. He swore that if he found one injury on him, he would give Doofenshmirtz tenfold whatever Phineas had.

Searching the lair, Perry found only many stacks of magazines lying around. He accidentally activated the trap Doofenshmirtz had set, which was a giant stapler that trapped Perry underneath a giant staple, but he easily deactivated it and broke free by bending the staple and squirming his way out from under it. His heart started to race as he continued to search the lair to no avail. Cold, hard realization started to set in, and Perry had to accept it.

Phineas wasn't here.


	4. Leads to the Culprit

Author's Note: Wow, thank you so much for all support! I'm really happy that so many people like this story since it was written on a whim.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Four: Leads to the Culprit

"Perry the Platypus, just what are you looking for?" Doofenshmirtz's nasally voice changed from irritation to sincere curiosity. He had watched the secret agent scour his entire lair in a sort of frenzy he used when he was looking for his apartment keys. Had Perry the Platypus left his apartment keys in Doofenshmirtz's evil lair after one of their battles? "Wait... Is it even legal for a platypus to own a home? I mean, robots aren't even allowed to have their own residence, so I doubt a platypus could, or is it different because you're a secret agent and—Perry the Platypus, are you even listening to me?"

There was no response, not that the evil scientist expected one since Perry the Platypus could not talk. He always wondered what his nemesis would say if he were able to communicate verbally with him, but after going through various scenarios in his head, he decided that he would rather deal with a silent Perry the Platypus than with a Perry the Platypus that always had cool one-liners. It'd be like having a cartoon character with a British accent in an American setting speak only once per episode. That would just be too much cool for him to handle.

Perry finally stopped searching the apartment, falling to his knees in the middle of the lair. A million questions coursed through his head, but he had not one answer for any of them. He had thought for sure that Doofenshmirtz was behind Phineas' kidnapping, or maybe he just really hoped it was Doofenshmirtz without looking at all the facts.

He was going off of the fact that Doofenshmirtz had stolen magazines. How would that even stand up in the court of law?

"Dad! Dad!" The door Perry refused to use for the majority of his missions opened, revealing a sixteen-year-old dressed in all black. Perry once heard her refer to the style as "Goth," but Perry preferred the style of clothes his owners wore.

The girl paused, looking from her father who was handcuffed to a pipe to Perry who was sitting on the ground with a rather forlorn expression. She had a feeling that she missed something.

"Whoa. Um, is everything okay in here?" Vanessa asked, wondering just what evil scheme her father had implemented today.

"Yes, yes," her father answered, and Vanessa noted how red a side of his jaw had turned from its usual complexion. "Perry the Platypus is in a _mood_ today." Doofenshmirtz stopped his explanation to glance over at said platypus, noting that Perry still hadn't moved from his spot. "He doesn't like propaganda, apparently."

"Right..." Vanessa gave one last look at the secret agent before turning her full attention to her father. "Dad, my friend called and asked me if I knew of anyone who owned a tripod. Do you own some evil tripod thingy?"

"Not a fully functional one right now," Doofenshmirtz conceded. "Why? Does your friend wish to start a crusade of evil?"

The teenager brought her hand to her forehead, not wanting to listen to her dopey father rant about his passion for evil. She wanted to go just one weekend with her father without having to deal with his evil schemes.

"No, Dad," she stated through gritted teeth. "His brother was kidnapped last night and they figured out that it was by someone who owns a tripod."

Perry snapped his attention towards his nemesis' daughter. A part of him wanted to check into her relationship with Ferb, but the other part was beaming with pride that his owner had figured out such an important clue. He almost wished that he could go right over to Ferb and work with him to piece everything together, but he could not put Ferb in danger. Having Phineas gone was killing him inside, but losing Ferb too? There was just no way he could lose both of his owners.

"Wait, wait, wait a second!" Doofenshmirtz exclaimed, staring at his daughter in disbelief. "Are you accusing me of kidnapping your friend's brother?" His daughter suddenly avoided eye contact with him. "You are! Wh-Why would I even do that? I mean, if he's an eighteen-year-old motorcyclist with a bad rep that kept hitting on you, then that would be different—he's not, right?"

"No, Dad," Vanessa sighed, exasperated with her father's overprotectiveness. He did seem all right with Johnny, but Johnny was the same age as her. "They're, like, ten. Or twelve. Well, a few years younger than me, at least. I think. I never really asked." Vanessa stopped her rambling, realizing how much she sounded like her father right then. Embarrassed, she cleared her throat and continued her point. "Do you know of anyone who owns a tripod in Dansville then?"

"Hmm..." Doofenshmirtz thought to himself. "I dunno anyone off the top of my head..." he trailed off, looking over to his nemesis who was strangely staring at him in anticipation. Something was definitely wrong with his nemesis today. "Perry the Platypus, do you know anyone? And don't give me the silent treatment. It's to help two little boys here, not me."

Perry couldn't think of anyone he knew that owned a tripod, and most of the other villains were either in jail or were preoccupied with other secret agents. If one of the secret agents noticed Phineas, there would have been an immediate report with the agency. Major Monogram would have also mentioned to him if one of the secret agents reported something. The only surveillance that was down was the surveillance around his home.

Unable to come up with an answer, Perry shook his head. Vanessa looked downcast, and Perry could only imagine what Ferb sounded like on the phone. He really wanted to be with his owner right now, but he also really wanted to continue his search for Phineas. Maybe he could ask the agency to do a search on everyone with in the city of Dansville until they found someone who owned a tripod.

Perry reached into his pocket and tossed a pair of keys to the Goth girl. She caught them, confused, but Perry just tipped his hat to her and activated his jetpack, zooming out of the lair. He was going to ask a friend for help.

Father and daughter watched the secret agent fly away. Vanessa blinked, looking back down at the keys Perry the Platypus had given her. She shrugged, walking over towards her father to free him. She guessed Perry wanted her to free him anyway.

"Who would want to kidnap two little boys anyway?" Doofenshmirtz questioned, shifting his position against the pipe he was handcuffed to as Vanessa tried to unlock it with the keys Perry had given her. "If I ruled over the Tri-State Area, I'd never allow this to happen. What kind of place is this if ya can't even trust your kids to be safe in your own home?" He thought to himself about this. "...Vanessa, make sure you lock your doors and windows at night."

"Dad, I'm sixteen," Vanessa bluntly stated, finally getting the handcuffs off her father. "And the kidnapper left a note using magazine clippings to spell out the words. It wasn't a ransom note, but my friend thinks the kidnapper had something personal against him and his brother to bother to leave one at all."

"Really?" Doofenshmirtz looked intrigued as he rubbed his sore wrist. Perry had been way too rough with him for some uncalled for reason. "That's weird. I had stolen all the magazines in the Tri-State Area last night, even from people's houses."

"You...what?" Vanessa shook her head, deciding she did not want to go down that road. A thought occurred to her. "Wait, Dad, do you think you might have the magazine the kidnapper used for the note?"

Doofenshmirtz considered this. "It's possible. But it's probably buried somewhere in all those stacks. It'll take a miracle to find it."

Vanessa smirked. "Then let's hope we get that miracle."

* * *

><p>Linda Flynn-Fletcher sat at the kitchen table, keeping her face buried in her hands while resting her elbows on the smooth, wooden surface. Silence had finally settled upon the household with each member preoccupied with something or someone. The phone had finally stopped ringing, and Ferb had been fortunate enough to make an uninterrupted call earlier. She didn't even know if he could answer the phone and tell whoever was calling what had happened.<p>

She had called Charlene, who had promised her that she would ask around the city for any information, and then she had called Isabella's mother, Vivian, wanting the little girl to be told by her own mother than someone on the street. She made a few more calls to some other parents of the children Phineas and Ferb frequently hung around with, secretly hoping that one of them would claim to know where Phineas was.

The conversations were all the same; shock evident in everyone's tones. A strong sense of dèjá vu overtook her as the hauntingly familiar responses rolled in, and it took all of her willpower to not burst into tears. That day would always remain fresh in her memory, and repeating it was torturing her.

Her own mother had immediately realized this, and though she could not do much to comfort her over the phone, she told Linda to not bottle it all up inside and to talk about it. Keeping those thoughts to herself would make her an emotional wreck.

"It's just like that day," she remembered telling her mom. "One moment, he's here, and then when I woke up...he's gone."

Disbelief and denial had been her first response that day too. She called the ambulance, the first of many calls she would make that day, but by the time they got there, it was too late, and reality sunk in. The sirens and flashing lights had woken up her kids, and she still remembered the scared look in their eyes when they watched their father get carried off in a stretcher.

_He was so young_, she remembered a lot of people commenting. _This is so unexpected. I'm so sorry for your loss._

Her breath hitched in her throat, and she clenched her teeth tightly, willing the sound of a broken sob away. She could not stand to lose another person she loved in her life, especially not her baby boy.

Candace stared, finding her mother in a position she had once seen her in so many years ago. She was a little girl then, and she didn't understand exactly how much pain her mother was in, but she was older now.

She went up and hugged her mom, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Her mother cried, unable to control herself, and Candace hugged her more tightly, allowing a few tears from her own eyes.

"Don't worry, Mom. We'll find him," Candace promised. She looked over her mother's head to Ferb who was just about to leave to the backyard to meet everyone. He nodded his head at her, confirming Candace's statement.

"We'll find him," she repeated, more sure of herself this time.

* * *

><p>Ferb had called a meeting in his backyard since he knew his mother and father were not keen on the idea of him leaving the property. He had to sit their first mission out, but he had confidence in his friends' abilities. Isabella was already waiting for him with the rest of the Fireside Girls in the backyard, along with Buford, Baljeet, and even Irving. All of them were ready to report on their progress.<p>

"Well," Isabella began, speaking on behalf of the Fireside Girls. "We asked around, but no one can recall anyone being annoyed with our projects. Aside from Candace, of course." Isabella gave a sad glance back at the other Fireside Girls, who nodded their heads solemnly.

"Yeah," Buford agreed. "I had a tendency to beat up anyone who disagreed with me, so no one would dare act like that in my presence."

"It is true," Baljeet piped up, but Ferb didn't need a second opinion. He believed Buford. It wasn't really that hard to. "Really, only your sister Candace ever seemed annoyed with your activities, so I am really at a loss here."

This was not what Ferb wanted to hear. He figured there would be at least one person who they could pinpoint, but that one person was just Candace. Ferb knew that his sister's irrational need to bust them had nothing to do with putting them in harm's way since the majority of the time she just wanted their mother to see what they were doing because it was, to her, dangerous. No matter how many safety precautions Ferb took, their projects would always be dangerous to Candace.

He figured older sisters were just protective like that.

"Great," Baljeet sighed. "We found out nothing. Well, this was a waste."

"This was not a waste!" Buford and Isabella snapped simultaneously. Isabella glared at him, causing Buford to put his hands up in defense. She continued on, confident that Buford would not echo her.

"We have to think of something else? Can't we build something that can locate Phineas? You're great at building things, Ferb," Isabella suggested, but Ferb just shook his head. Give Ferb the material he needs and he can build anything, but Phineas was the one who always figured out a way to do the impossible. He had that creative spark that made Phineas, well, Phineas.

"A locating device would be an impossible feat," Baljeet voiced, knowing that the silent boy would not express his innermost thoughts to them. "Phineas and Ferb would be able to build it together to find someone, but when you're building a locater device when you don't have a visual on the thing you are locating, it's simply impossible. Even if Ferb managed to build one it would still take forever to find Phineas. We would have to know the vicinity to look for him in too. Looking all over Danville would just make it too difficult to concentrate on a signal due to all the interference."

Baljeet's explanation seemed too lengthy and repetitive for Ferb's taste, but he figured it was better than trying to explain to everyone himself. Baljeet was right, though. He would need a smaller area to use a locater in. If only he had a general idea of where Phineas could be...

"Uh, guys?" Ferb blinked, as did everyone else when they heard Irving speak up. Ferb had forgotten the boy was there.

Irving looked nervous, and he was holding his photo album in his hands. "You know how I like taking pictures of every adventure that you guys have?" The group wearily nodded, hoping the boy was not about to go into one of his fanboy rants. "Well, Isabella told me what the note said, and it's just... It's familiar."

Now he had everyone's complete attention. Irving squirmed, more used to being in the background than in the spotlight.

"What do you mean by 'familiar?'" Isabella asked, regarding the boy carefully.

Instead of telling them, Irving flipped open his photo album and turned to a page. He then handed the photo album off to Isabella, who inspected the pictures on the page. Her eyes widened.

"This is..." she started, but trailed off as she stared at all of the pictures.

Ferb narrowed his eyes, looking over Isabella's shoulder at the pictures. He knew exactly who kidnapped Phineas now.

"Khaka Peü Peü."

For once, no one laughed.


	5. Destination

Author's Note: There were a lot of mixed reactions over the newest suspect, and I was happy that many people did suspect him since Khaka Peü Peü was not a prominent character in the series, and his only appearance was in the episode, "The Beak." Kudos to you all!

As a side note: Please don't use the anonymous reviews feature to troll (a troll instigates trouble). This is a fanfic, not some forum or YouTube comment page. If it happens again, I'll be forced to disable anonymous reviews, and that's not fair to everyone who uses the feature for its actual purpose. Need to tell me something unrelated to a review of the story? Get an account and send me a private message. Otherwise, I don't want to hear it.

Sorry about that rant, but I was seriously perturbed that someone would have the audacity to do that. Please enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p>Chapter Five: Destination<p>

The drive home was the longest ride Lawrence ever had to take. He had spent the better half of the morning and part of the afternoon driving all over the city, asking store owners to place "Missing Child" signs in their windows with a number to call in order to report any information someone might have on his stepson. Afterwards, he would go to busy plazas and ask around to see if he would be fortunate enough to find the stranger that could lead him to his boy.

Lawrence had never been a lucky person growing up. It was a miracle for someone like him to wind up with a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman like Linda, and it was a miracle that he had such a loving family despite all of his life's hardships. Ferb had always been his anchor to the world until Linda came along with her two wonderful children. He still remembered when Phineas met Ferb for the first time, and how the red-haired boys smile was so contagious that even Ferb cracked a grin.

It was the first time he had seen Ferb smile in months, and after that day, Ferb continued to smile.

His heart heavy, Lawrence turned the key in the ignition until the engine quieted, and then he pocketed the car keys. The loud, frantic hustle and bustle of this morning had ended, leaving behind a quiet suburban neighborhood. In the distance he could hear the sound of someone's lawnmower, and the smell of barbeque from a neighbor's yard drifted through the fresh, summer air. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, and his stepson was missing.

Lawrence had never seen a more hideous day in his life.

He finally exited the car and went inside his home to see his wife, praying that some good news would come to them before the day ended. It was just playing the waiting game now. He hoped he'd be lucky enough to win it.

* * *

><p>Candace was grateful for her father's return. As soon as Lawrence entered the house, he immediately took over the job of consoling her mother, briefly squeezing Candace's shoulder in a comforting gesture before she left. Soothing whispers reached her ears, and she looked back to see her stepfather calmly speaking to her mother. Whatever he was saying seemed to settle her down, causing Candace to give a small smile. She was so happy her mother had met this man.<p>

A knock on the front door startled her out of her thoughts, but she quickly recovered and answered the door, prepared to tell the neighbors that her parents were busy at the moment and they would have to talk to them later.

So, clearly, she was surprised when Jeremy Johnson appeared at her doorstep.

"Jeremy?" Candace questioned, unable to believe that he was really here. "B-But I called you earlier and you said that you were out of state visiting a college!"

Jeremy rubbed the back of his head, trying to not appear too sheepish. "Yeah, well, when your girlfriend's brother goes missing, you normally go to be with her." He looked into her eyes with such sincerity that Candace felt her knees tremble. "I couldn't stay away. I had to come see you."

Candace threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she buried her face into his shoulder. She had been struggling to be the strong, sturdy one in the family all day, trying to not let her building emotions get the best of her, but now that she had Jeremy to help hold her up, she lost it.

Jeremy held her tightly, backing her up into the house. He used one hand to shut the front door before he resumed holding her.

"It's okay, Candace," he soothed, placing a hand on the back of her head. "We'll find Phineas. Don't worry. We'll find him."

Somehow, hearing those words from Jeremy made them seem more true.

"Yeah," Candace tearfully agreed. "We will."

* * *

><p>Perry held his hand up, motioning for his fellow agent to stop. He waited for a minivan to drive down the street before he put his hand down, signaling that the coast was clear. Agent Pinky from Wanda's division chased after him as Perry ran across the road into their next-door neighbor's yard. They kept along the fence, limiting their visibility to the humans around them. Perry stopped them once they reached the area that the two holes he had discovered earlier were in.<p>

The tiny Chihuahua tried to not twitch as much as usual when he approached one of the holes. Major Monogram had contacted his advisor before Agent Perry had arrived, and Agent Pinky's job right now was to help uncover what type of tripod made these holes. His nose had been trained during his puppy days in the agency to sense minor differences in metals and elements, so he was the perfect pup for the job. Also, Agent Pinky had been having a slow time with missions. Professor Poofenplotz had not attempted any world domination schemes for the past couple weeks, and even though she wasn't known for enacting daily schemes like Agent Perry's nemesis, it was still a long time for her to not come up with some evil way to perfect her looks so that she could then take over the world.

It was hard to not notice Agent Perry's anxious look as Agent Pinky sniffed the ground, picking up some metal traces here and there. Unlike many of the other agents, Pinky and Perry were pets. After they finished their missions, they returned home to their owners, and Pinky knew that Perry was showered with just as much love and affection from his owners as Isabella showered him with. He couldn't bear to imagine losing Isabella. She was his whole world outside the agency.

Pinky stopped sniffing, finding a peculiar smell. He tried to place it, but it felt as though he had only gotten a whiff of the particular smell once. There was no way to be certain from just sniffing the area, but he had an inkling that he would be able to find the source.

Turning to Agent Perry, Agent Pinky gave a quick, shaky nod of his head before darting off. He knew that Agent Perry would expect a full report when he returned, but he couldn't give one until he was confident that the metal scent came from what he thought it did.

Perry watched the Chihuahua take off, trusting the dog to do everything in his power to figure out who owned the tripod. Pinky the Chihuahua was a good agent. He would not let Perry down.

Still, now Perry had nothing to do but wait for Agent Pinky's report. He had no leads to go off on, and there was no one else that could offer him more help or information. He was stuck waiting.

Perry grimaced. He was not good at staying put. He was a platypus of action. When something went wrong, he fixed it. When Phineas, Ferb, and Candace were in trouble, he saved him. He did not sit idly by and, of all things, wait.

"Wow! It's exactly as I remember it!" Isabella's voice drifted over the wooden fence. From the sounds of it, she was right in Perry's backyard. "Good job, Ferb!"

Ferb. Now Perry knew what he had to do right now. He had to be with Ferb. He had to comfort his beloved owner and make sure that he was perfectly safe. That would be his next mission: Protect Ferb.

Really, though, it went without saying.

After taking off his fedora and adopting his mindless-pet-platypus stance, Perry quickly worked his way out of the next-door neighbor's yard and back into his own yard, padding on the soft green grass over to Ferb, who seemed to be busy building something. It seemed odd to see him working on something without Phineas right by his side, but Perry ignored the sting and continued his way towards him.

Ferb stopped using the blowtorch, hopping off the wooden stepladder he had been using. Usually Phineas would carry him on his shoulders or he, majority of the time, would carry Phineas on his shoulders in order to get the job done, but Ferb would just have to make due. Building this put them one step closer to reuniting with his brother. He could stand to work without him for just a bit longer.

"Oh, there you are, Perry," Isabella said, causing Ferb to look down and over to his pet. Perry chattered, confirming to the kids that he was back.

"I can't believe he still ran off even knowing that one of his owners was gone," Baljeet commented. Perry ignored the jibe, knowing that his owners' friend did not understand or even know his reasons for leaving.

Ferb placed the blowtorch on the ground before walking over to his pet platypus. "Well, he is just a platypus," he remarked, but he didn't add in the usual line that followed. It didn't feel right. When Perry disappeared that morning, he had hoped that by the time the platypus returned, Phineas would be there to comment on it.

He scratched Perry lightly on the side of his head, causing his beaver-like tail to jerk up in an unconscious response. Perry chattered at the soothing feeling, glad to be back with Ferb, even if it meant that he wasn't out there searching for Phineas. Ferb was always more mindful and understanding of Perry, which he contributed to the boy's incredible observation skills. Back when they were in the other dimension, Ferb barely reacted to the uncovering of Perry's secret identity. It made him wonder if Ferb somehow...knew, or if he even suspected something beforehand. Major Monogram never reported that Ferb had knowledge of his secret identity, so he knew that could not have been the case.

"Well, are you gonna play with your stinky platypus all day, or are we gonna go save that stupid brother of yours?" Buford asked, walking over to whatever the other kids were crowded around. Perry kept his mindless expression up, but Buford's words had alarmed him. Save Phineas? What did he mean by that?

Isabella frowned, glaring at Buford. "Phineas is not stupid!"

Perry chattered. He was not stinky. He had been given a bath just a few days ago. What were with humans and their personal hygiene issues?

"Yeah, whatever," Buford nonchalantly replied, knocking Baljeet to the side with his elbow as he walked around Ferb's creation. Perry tried to work his way into the group, but none of the kids moved their feet when he neared, and he couldn't just crawl over them. As a mindless platypus, he shouldn't seem interested in what everyone was looking at. "So, who's workin' this thing?"

Baljeet rubbed his shoulder where Buford elbowed him. "Well, the bottom compartment is built perfectly for Ferb's form, and since he is the only one that has experience working the controls, he should really be the one that works it." Baljeet looks to Ferb who gives him a single nod for confirmation. "The top part was originally worked by Phineas, so whoever is closest to Phineas' height and stature or smaller should take his place."

"Well, I'm out," Buford commented, taking a step back from the group. Perry used this opportunity to infiltrate the group, placing himself where Buford once stood to get a good look at what Ferb had built.

He blinked. Was that The Beak?

"I'm a bit taller than Phineas... About 1.03 centimeters taller, to be exact." No one questioned how Isabella knew precisely how much taller she was than Phineas. "It's not much, but it isn't exactly the same or smaller."

Perry didn't understand what the kids were planning. What was the relation between The Beak and saving Phineas? Were they thinking along the lines of how The Beak was a superhero, so it was perfect for the job? No, Ferb's mind did not function like that. There had to be something else to this.

"Wait, how about you, Baljeet?" Isabella suggested. "You're smaller than Phineas."

"Me?" Baljeet asked, shocked at the suggestion. "B-But then I would have to fight that guy! I...I can't do that! I'll lose!" The small, dark-haired boy turned, pointing over to the Fireside Girls. "Can't one of the girls do it?"

Gretchen, the smallest and smartest of the Fireside Girls, shook her head. "We function better as a group since we always work closely together. The best option would be for you to be the upper body of The Beak while the rest of us handle the other parts of the plan."

Desperate for someone to agree with him that this was not a good idea, Baljeet looked around at every person present, watching as they either nodded their head in agreement with Gretchen or simply gave him a sympathetic smile. His eyes landed on Ginger, one of the Fireside Girls who was close to Isabella's height with straight black hair and bangs. She smiled at him encouragingly.

"Baljeet, you can do it!" she cheered, and her confidence caused Baljeet to stutter.

"I-I can?"

"Nope," Buford bluntly stated, drawing a furious glare from Ginger. "Not unless you start actin' like me."

Baljeet was about to argue this, but he realized just what Buford was getting at. "You're absolutely right! You for have bullied me so long that I can copy your every move! I can fight Khaka Peü Peü using your tactics! It's brilliant!"

Everything came crashing down on Perry all at once with the mention of the odd-sounding name. Like Doofenshmirtz, Khaka Peü Peü had the knowledge and the technology to construct a tripod and perhaps even dismantle the agency's surveillance for a short period of time. From what he remembered reading about in Isabella's articles, the man despised the fact that Phineas and Ferb were trying to give everyone the best day ever.

_Without the boy, there will never be a day filled with fun. Prepare to live out the worst days of your life._

Perry felt so stupid. How could he not see the connection?

"Is everybody ready?" Isabella asked, receiving a chorus of affirmative answers. "Good. Baljeet, Ferb, suit up. I'll go tell Candace that we're ready to go."

Isabella ran inside the house while the other Fireside Girls exited the yard, leaving off to conduct their part of the plan. Buford picked up Baljeet and helped place him inside The Beak, and Ferb made his way to step into the bottom half of The Beak.

Panic rose in Perry's throat, and it took all of his willpower to not break character and pounce on his owner. Yes, Ferb would have some protection with the suit, but what if Khaka Peü Peü had something else in store for them? It was too dangerous!

Ferb looked down when he felt something tugging at his pant leg. He was surprised to see Perry there, holding some of the purple fabric in his mouth.

"Don't worry, Perry," Ferb told the platypus, bending down to scratch Perry's favorite spot. On reflex, Perry chattered and jerked his tail up, causing him to let go of the material. Ferb stepped into the bottom part of The Beak before Perry could recover. "I'm going to bring Phineas back."

Something inside told Perry that Ferb's statement wasn't true, but he was already getting ready to report to Major Monogram and have him send the directions to Khaka Peü Peü's apartment over to him. He just hoped that he would get there before something happened to Ferb.


	6. First Move

Thank you all for reading this story, and a special thanks to those who have taken the time to leave a review. This story has been fun to write on its own, but it's even more entertaining to write with the added feedback.

I hope that you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Six: First Move

Ferb was thankful that he did not have to try to build a locater. After Irving showed him those incriminating photos of Khaka Peü Peü, he knew exactly what he had to create, or recreate in this case: The Beak.

Everyone had faith in him, knowing he had the capabilities to build an exact replica of The Beak, but he also knew that everyone had their doubts. Phineas was the one who led their projects, and he was the one Ferb trusted to make sure everything was in place. Ferb was Phineas' right-hand man.

As a child, Ferb liked to build things, but not things that most children his age liked to build. His father often brought home airplane and toy car models home, offering to help Ferb build them. Ferb didn't need the help, but they bored him so much that he secretly let his father do all the work. They were simple, easy, and offered no sort of challenge to him whatsoever.

Then Phineas came along, and he brought life into everything. Ferb, a man of science and logic, believed what his stepbrother did was like magic.

Even when building The Beak, Phineas had been excitingly belting out all of these amazing ideas, helping Ferb to execute each and every one.

"_...Then we lock it all in with an indestructible titanium exoskeleton which increases strength, jumping ability, and other physical attributes one hundred times, including the senses and folk dancing ability."_

Ferb chuckled, unable to contain himself. He loved his brother, but Phineas' obsession with the Bulgarian folk-related elements had been too much. When he got back, he'd let his brother rock out to as many Bulgarian folksongs as he desired.

"I knew it! You're laughing at my voice!"

Ferb's smile stopped short, suddenly remembering that Baljeet could see him through the camera he had built in for the two of them to communicate by. Yes, Baljeet's high-pitched voice sounded strange with the deep tone of the voice modulator he had installed, but it sounded no more humorous than Phineas' own voice had. In fact, he recalled Phineas loving the sound of his new voice.

Baljeet continued to frown, staring at upper right-hand corner of The Beak's screen that contained Ferb in it. Ferb's mother had called his own mother that morning to tell her what had happened, and his mother had immediately ordered Baljeet to stick like glue to Buford until everything was resolved. It was hard to explain to his mother that his relationship with Buford was not one of choice, but one that was rather forced upon him without his approval. He did feel safer with Buford around, as he recalled when they first met The Beak, he had been stuck in a tree with Buford trying desperately to get him down.

Buford cared for him; Baljeet was confident in that statement. He cared for Buford too. Their relationship did not make sense to most people, but it was something that worked for the two of them, and it was something that their group of friends accepted.

He also knew that Phineas' disappearance had rattled Buford more than he let on. Phineas and Ferb were the only two people that Buford looked at as an equal; they would never fear him and they would always treat him with respect. Baljeet had to wonder exactly how many people had that kind of lighthearted, happy-go-lucky outlook about them.

None if we can't find and rescue Phineas, he sadly thought to himself. Would their friendships survive if such a prominent member left their lives so suddenly? He liked to think that they were strong, and that they would all pull through, but it was so hard...

"Okay, listen up!" Baljeet and Ferb turned their attention to the world outside their suit, watching as Candace called attention to everyone.

Candace was impressed with how quickly Ferb managed to build The Beak, but she supposed that building something a second time made it easier for her silent, handy brother. She looked around, making sure that she had the attention of Buford, Baljeet, Ferb, Isabella, that weird kid Irving, and especially Jeremy.

Jeremy smiled at her, helping fuel her confidence and courage that she could successfully lead their small rescue team. Of course, Jeremy had been against the idea at first, telling her that she should really have the police handle this, but she explained to him how Phineas and Ferb had handled this guy with no problem at all, so she was sure that they would be able to take him a second time.

There was a chilling silence before Jeremy told her that was not what he was worried about, but Candace refused to let him finish that thought. They would go to Khaka Peü Peü's apartment, which was the easiest hideout to find since Khaka Peü Peü listed himself in the phone book, and since he was the only one with that name in the entire Tri-State Area, it was easy to track down his address. After they arrived, it would just be a matter of defeating him as they would any cartoon villain and then he would have no choice but to hand Phineas over to them. That was how it worked. That was how it was.

They would never stumble into his apartment to find Phineas... Dead.

It didn't work like that.

He'd be roughed up because her little brother would never go quietly without a fight, and he'd probably be hungry from not eating all day, but he'd be fine overall.

Candace believed that if she thought this enough, it would be true.

"We are not messing around here!" she glared at everyone to prove how serious she was. "Jeremy is going to drive the rest of us to the apartment. You guys are going to fly overhead and follow our car." She paused, making sure that no one looked confused. "When we get to Khaka Peu Peu's, there will be no rash actions. We work together, people!"

"Yeah," Jeremy agreed. "If anyone pulls a Leeroy Jenkins, we're done for."

Isabella and Candace gave Jeremy a puzzled look, but the boys seemed to understand his terminology, so they let it slide.

"So you two have to wait for me to give you the signal. Remember, we want Khaka Peü Peü out of the apartment. Okay?"

Baljeet nodded his head, answering for both Ferb and he. "Understood!"

Candace turned to Isabella, Buford, and that weird kid Irving. "And you three know what to do when I give the signal, right?"

"Right!"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

"U-Uh, y-yeah! I do!"

"Are we ready to head out then?" Jeremy asked, digging his car keys out of his pant pocket.

Candace gave a last glance over everyone, thinking the plan over and over in her head. The Fireside Girls, minus Isabella, were all standing by in their homes, prepared to call anyone that they told them to, ranging from the police, to the fire department, to the hospital. She nodded, feeling ready.

"Should we tell your parents at least?" Jeremy prodded, and Candace had to admire how mature and responsible he was compared to other boys his age. He would make a wonderful dad when he got older.

"No," Candace responded, thinking back to how upset her mother was earlier. She didn't want to worry her mother, and she knew that if she brought back Phineas as soon as she could, her mother would be so happy. If she told her beforehand, her mother would let fear overtake her and refuse to let them go.

She looked at her backyard one last time, staring at the empty space under the tree. Perry was nowhere to be seen, but that disappearance was not unusual.

"Let's roll."

* * *

><p>"Agent P!" Major Monogram exclaimed as soon as Perry entered his lab, his fedora placed on top of his head once more. "It seems that your family has discovered the possible whereabouts of Phineas." At Perry's deadpanned look, Major Monogram decided to speed up his report. "Carl! Show Agent P the exact coordinates of the villain Khaka Peü Peü."<p>

"On it, sir!" Perry heard Carl's voice exclaim off-camera. A window popped up on the screen not a moment later, and Perry watched as a latitudinal and longitudinal line came together to form a cross, where Carl zoomed into the center of.

An apartment complex appeared on the screen, and Perry had to admit that it made Doofenshmirtz's apartment building look like a luxurious estate in comparison. Carl continued to zoom in, highlight a section of the apartment building.

"We believe that is his apartment," Major Monogram explained, though the picture of the apartment was blocking his face from view. "There have been no reports of unusual activity around it, but if Khaka Peü Peü is behind all of this, then he probably has a knack for keeping things on the down low."

Perry had to admit that it was weird to find out that Khaka Peü Peü was the kidnapper. He had only seen the villain once for a short period of time, but he seemed rather loud and flashy. Just as Doofenshmirtz always lectured about his evil schemes to anyone who would listen, Khaka Peü Peü seemed to be the same way. Maybe the note was his way of getting his voice heard.

"Infiltrate the apartment, defeat Khaka Peü Peü, and get Phineas out of there," Major Monogram ordered. Perry saluted him, putting on his jetpack and jetting out of the lab.

He had to make it there before Ferb did.

Ferb was surprised at how well Baljeet handled the controls. It had taken Phineas and him a few runs before they perfected the movements, but Baljeet had an apparent knack for everything. It almost felt as if the Indian boy had prior experiencing controlling the top half of The Beak, which was a ridiculous notion.

Keeping an eye on Jeremy's car below them, Ferb mentally prepared himself for the confrontation between Khaka Peü Peü and him. Though he had been raised to be polite, Ferb could not see how he could uphold any manners when fighting this villain. He'd fight dirty, just as Khaka Peü Peü had made the disgustingly low move of kidnapping his brother in the middle of the night when they were both vulnerable and defenseless.

Candace's warning floated in the back of his mind, and he relented, stopping the madness that lurked in his thoughts. He couldn't think about revenge right now. Revenge was a nasty path that required one's full devotion and attention. He could not pledge himself to that with Phineas still in harm's way. Phineas came first. Phineas would always come first.

"I think we are nearing the destination!" Baljeet announced, bringing Ferb's attention back to the task at hand. After a moment, Baljeet asked, "Are you ready?"

Ferb gave him a quick thumbs up before resuming his focus on the controls, preparing for them to make a quick, low dive towards the bottom of the apartment complex. He had already calculated the position of the apartment from the address Candace had given him, but he was sticking to the plan.

He would not be their group's Leeroy Jenkins.

The apartment complex came closer and closer into view as they covered the distance, and Ferb knew that everyone must have been feeling really anxious by now. They were about to make their first actual move in getting Phineas back, and Ferb knew from experience that making the first move was sometimes the most nerve-wracking move of them all.

Baljeet and Ferb switched the controls around, making it so that The Beak performed a perfect, quick dive before leveling himself with Jeremy's car. Isabella glanced over at him through the backseat window, and though she couldn't see him through the suit, they both had identical grave expressions upon their face.

Jeremy stopped the car in front of the building, not even taking out his car keys before Candace and the others were piling out of the vehicle, heading towards the front entrance. Baljeet and Ferb hovered The Beak over to a spot on the sidewalk behind them before landing.

Candace pressed one of the small buttons on the side of the entryway, causing it to make a loud buzz-like sound. She brought her hand down, and they all waited.

"...Khaka Peü Peü's residence, whaddya want?" A tired, irritated voice asked through the speaker that was next to the column of buttons.

Candace pressed the button again. "For you to get your ass down here and take it like a man!"

Everyone blinked and looked in surprise at the red-haired girl. She ignored them, eyeing the speaker as though Khaka Peü Peü could be seen right through there.

There was a pause on the other end before Khaka Peü Peü responded again. "Oh, honey, you finished getting the groceries. I'll be right down."

No one had a response for that.

* * *

><p>Perry stared down at the group standing in the entranceway of the apartment complex. He hadn't beaten them to the place, and he just knew that they were all waiting for Khaka Peü Peü to come down. Why were they all just standing there, though? Didn't it occur to them that they should at least hide themselves so that they had some cover if Khaka Peü Peü came down and did not mince words with the group? Only Ferb and Baljeet stood a chance of dodging an attack!<p>

As he rapidly approached the building, Perry tilted his body to the side, changing his direction so that he would head around the other side of the building. This way, no one would accidentally see him if they happened to look up.

Once safely around the building and out of sight, Perry lowered his altitude down a few floors, remembering the location of the apartment from the image Carl had shown him. He watched his reflection stare back at him in one of the windows of the apartment, but he quickly destroyed the image by using a specialized laser that allowed him to burn a platypus-sized circle through the window. Not wanting to make an attention-drawing noise, Perry carefully pushed the circle inward and grabbed onto it before it fell on the apartment floor. He jumped through the hole, placing the glass circle quietly on the floor.

He looked around, realizing that Khaka Peü Peü was no longer there, which gave him a clear opening to search for Phineas.

He only hoped that he wasn't too late.

* * *

><p>As soon as Khaka Peü Peü opened the entrance door, expecting to help his soul-sucking wife bring in some groceries, Candace screamed. It startled the middle-aged man and gave the signal to everyone else. Buford grabbed his middle, and Irving grabbed one of his legs. Candace and Isabella helped drag the trapped man forward, leading him away from the apartment building and towards his worst nemesis.<p>

"You! Surrender yourself and we'll go easy on you!" Baljeet declared, though he knew that the last part was a lie. As if any of them would ever go easy on this evil man.

"This is worse than bringing in groceries," Khaka Peü Peü grumbled. He looked up at The Beak as he continued to struggle against his human restraints. "The Beak? Oh, great. It's you kids again. What's with the accent?"

Baljeet and Ferb ignored him, hovering over the ground until The Beak's beak was right in Khaka Peü Peü's face. "You'll pay for what you have done!"

Khaka Peü Peü raised an eyebrow at them. "What have I done? Exist? Go play with someone else today! It's too hot to be outside."

Something was not right here. Normally, the villain would make his offensive move or taunt them, but Khaka Peü Peü had done neither. He didn't seem to even understand what was happening.

Ferb realized in horror what this meant.

* * *

><p>The apartment was not that large, making it easier for Perry to search it from top to bottom. There was nothing out of the ordinary lying around, and he even found a toolbox hidden away in the closet. Nothing in it seemed as if it had been touched for a while.<p>

He hadn't given up, searching every inch of the apartment for a sign of Phineas. He flipped over the couches, cleared out the closets and cabinets, prowled through the bathroom, and even checked the fridge. Perry ripped the covers off the queen-sized bed, looking all around it in a last desperate attempt to find hide or hair of Phineas. He found neither, leaving a now-trashed apartment in his wake.

It was unbelievable. This was the second time he had come up empty-handed. He had been so sure of himself this time. Even Ferb had thought Phineas was for sure going to be here.

He wondered if Ferb had figured out his mistake yet.

"Agent P! Come in Agent P!" Major Monogram called in through his secret agent watch. "Report back to the base immediately!"

Perry didn't bother to look around the apartment as he responded to the call and flew off on his jetpack.

* * *

><p>The group had released Khaka Peü Peü from their custody, going from violence and shouting to civil conversation. Baljeet and Ferb had got out of The Beak, no longer having to fight, and stood with the group.<p>

"So, you thought I took your brother?" Khaka Peü Peü asked with a tone of disgust. He looked to each and every one of them, frowning with disproval. "Why would I even do that?"

"The note the kidnapper left behind mentioned that we should prepare to live out the worst days of our lives," Isabella explained, speaking up for the group. "We thought of you since you made it your goal to make sure Danville would never have the best day ever."

Khaka Peü Peü still scoffed at the notion. "Do you know how much work goes into kidnapping someone? And what happens if you get caught? Kidnapping the brat would just be more trouble than it's worth, and I already have worse enough days as it is. I don't need to add something like that to it."

The man didn't sound very sympathetic towards them, but Ferb didn't care about that at the moment. All he could think about was how he had failed. He had failed to identify the right culprit, and he had failed to gather more incriminating evidence before he allowed everyone to go off on this little escapade. Most importantly, though, he had failed Phineas. Phineas, who was probably being tortured by some real villain while they sat here chatting with a fake one.

"Now, if you don't have any more ways to make my day worse," Khaka Peü Peü said, giving all of them an even glare. "I'm going back inside to relive the horrors of daytime television."

Without another word, he returned inside the building, leaving the group to stare at the front entrance. Jeremy put his arm around Candace, keeping the trembling girl from breaking down in the middle of the sidewalk. Isabella walked up to Ferb with a small quiver to her form herself.

"What now?" she breathed. Ferb wished he could answer her.

RING! RING! RING!

Candace blinked, looking down at her phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and stared at the caller ID, but the number was unrecognizable. Tentatively, she flipped it open and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" she spoke into it. She stood there, looking around awkwardly at her surroundings. "Who is this? ...Oh. Okay."

Candace looked over to Ferb. She held out the phone to him. "It's for you..."

Ferb realized who was calling the moment Candace handed the phone over to him. He answered with a rushed, "Hello?" wanting to get past the mundane greetings.

"_Hey, Ferb. It's Vanessa. I think you should see what we've found."_

* * *

><p>Khaka Peü Peü stared at his trashed apartment. Normally, he'd blow a fuse over coming back to this, but somehow with today's events, it only seemed fitting. Hopefully his wife would be in such a rage that she would actually murder him than make him clean and fix the entire apartment up.<p>

He never was going to have a best day ever.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Leeroy Jenkins is a fictional character created by Ben Schluz for World of Warcraft. He appeared in a video that had a group of players creating an in-depth strategy while Leeroy Jenkins was away, and when he returned to the game he had his character simply rush off into battle, completely ignorant of the strategy and causing everyone to be killed as they try to help him. I figured since Jeremy is pretty into video games, he'd probably have heard of the infamous character.<p> 


	7. More Clues

Sorry about the red herring in the last chapter. Every mystery story needs them, though, right? Well, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Seven: More Clues

Buford sat on the curb next to Baljeet, trying to clear his head. He hated being consumed by his thoughts, especially ones that only served to make him feel worse than he already felt. Bullying was a great outlet to use to let out his frustrations, but he couldn't think of a single thing to do—even to Baljeet! This whole situation was making him lose his edge.

That weird kid Irving sat down next to Baljeet, still clutching his creepy photo album in his hands. Buford would have told him to just toss it since it just helped lead them to a dead end, and then he would have pushed him into the street for causing this wild goose chase, and then he probably would have helped him back up to his feet by giving him a wedgie. Buford would have done a lot of things to that weird kid, but he did none of them.

Ferb was still talking on Candace's pink cellphone in a hushed tone, making up for the fact that he was consistently talking. Buford could not stand that kid sometimes. He was always so resolved and complacent. Buford himself was a man of few words and mostly action, but he felt that Ferb took it to the extreme. Phineas at least showed some emotion and gave Buford the time of day, but Ferb could have cared less if Buford hung around with them or not. In fact, after his thumb-wrestling match with Phineas, Ferb had the nerve to call him a "shark" of all things, and then instead of apologizing, the weird boy did some freaky move that caused Buford to fall unconscious.

Despite all of this, Buford really held no ill will towards Phineas' stepbrother. It was just weird to be around him so much when Phineas was not with him. It just didn't seem natural.

"I...I really thought it was him." Buford glanced over at that weird kid Irving who was staring down at the pavement. "It seemed like it fit."

"Yeah, but it didn't," Buford spoke, being decidedly honest instead of cruel. Baljeet kept his head in his hands, but let out a resigned sigh.

"Like Phineas would say: We need to keep moving forward," Baljeet voiced, giving a small try at keeping their spirits up.

Buford snorted. "That guy thinks he's a regular Walt Disney or somethin'."

Silence spread across the three boys again. Ferb's hushed tones could still be heard, and now Candace and Jeremy were speaking quietly to each other. Isabella stood off to the side, not joining any of them. Someone should probably talk to her since they all knew about her crush on Phineas, but Buford did not want to say the wrong thing and have her wail on him. He didn't hit girls; it was against the Male Bully Code of Conduct. He also suspected that Isabella could take him if he tried to fight her, not that he would ever admit to that out loud. Inside, though, he knew.

"... We're not going to find him, are we?"

Buford and Baljeet snapped their heads over to Irving, shocked at his question. It didn't even sound much like a question. It sounded like a statement: a defining, definite statement.

Before either of them could make a retort, Isabella stormed over to Irving. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"Don't you ever dare say that in front of me!" she grounded out, trembling with uncontrollable rage. "We are going to find him no matter how long it takes, no matter how many places we look, and no matter how many dead ends we reach!"

Irving gulped. "Y-Yes, b-but—"

"But nothing!" Isabella snapped. "If you wanna think like that, _fine_, but don't you dare even think that one of us agrees with you. Phineas is smart, strong, and brave! We'll find him! You hear me? We'll find him!"

"She's right."

They all watched as Ferb walked over to them, and Candace retrieved her cellphone from him. Just as she was about to ask him whom he had been speaking to for so long on it, and why that girl had her number, Ferb turned to Jeremy, posing his own question to his sister's boyfriend.

"Can you drive us to another apartment complex?" he asked.

Jeremy looked to Candace who seemed just as perplexed as to what was going on. "Uh, sure. Where is it?"

"A building known as Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated."

* * *

><p>Peter the Panda was surprised when Agent Pinky had barked at him, demanding his assistance. It was rare that he had much interaction with the Chihuahua, and as far as he knew from his supervisor, Admiral Wanda, Professor Poofenplotz had been inactive for some time now. He was expecting Agent Perry to pay him a visit, knowing the situation that the platypus was in. Of course, he knew that Agent Perry would stubbornly try to find his missing owner on his own without Peter's help, so he would just have to wait until Admiral Wanda ordered him to step in.<p>

O.W.C.A.'s protocols came first. He would not do his job until it became detrimental to the world or the agency to do so.

Agent Pinky made a strange request when he found Peter earlier. He had asked him for some scraps of metal the agents had collected after their fight with the other-dimension Doofenshmirtz. Peter had kept some for himself in order to commemorate their victory.

Peter had given Agent Pinky various parts of the robots to examine. It was Peter's job to maintain the evidence of that day since it had been wiped from the minds of some of the key players that day. Perry hadn't wanted the job of keeping the parts that had almost led to the loss of his owners, which Peter found to be sentimentally weak. Then again, Perry had always let his emotions blind him in his missions.

He watched as the small, twitchy dog sniffed the scraps, wrinkling his nose with disdain as he did so. After a bit, Agent Pinky stopped, looking to Peter the Panda with a solemn expression. He growled, communicating to Peter what the purpose of this had been.

They both rushed off to Peter's lair, intent on reporting back to Admiral Wanda on their findings. This was something that Perry needed to know.

* * *

><p>"Hm... It says here that adding highlights to one's hair helps them achieve a younger and flirtier look." Doofenshmirtz tried to picture himself with highlights, but he didn't see how it would make him look any younger and flirtier. He was still going to try the guacamole dip on his face to get rid of wrinkles, though. At least that way if it didn't work, he'd still be able to eat the dip. "Hey, maybe I should make my inators edible too! Then they would never go to waste."<p>

"Dad," Vanessa snapped, flipping through another magazine before placing it into the "looked through" pile. "Stop reading these stupid magazines and help me find the one with cutout letters."

"Alright, alright! Sheesh," Doofenshmirtz grumbled, putting the magazine into the "looked through" pile. "You know, you're sounding like your mother more and more every day. Maybe you should spend more time with me this summer."

"No, thank you," his daughter responded. "I happen to like preserving what little sanity I have."

Doofenshmirtz frowned. "Yeah, now you _really_ sound like your mother."

The sixteen-year-old brunette ignored her father's remark, knowing there really wasn't any hostility in his statement. Her parents had their differences, but the divorce had made them more civil with one another. They weren't close friends, per se, but they cared for each other. It made Vanessa feel lucky that she was one of the few with divorced parents that didn't try to pit her against one another.

She smiled to herself, picking up a random magazine from the pile. It had a black background, meaning that she got a break from having to look at preppy clothes and read articles that obsessed over blonde hair and dark tan skin.

She looked at the cover and stopped smiling.

"Say, Dad?" she asked, not looking away from the cover. "What was the point of you stealing all of these magazines in the first place?"

Finally! Doofenshmirtz grinned, looking over to his daughter. She wanted to hear his evil scheme! Yes! His baby girl had finally taken an interest in the family business! Oh, if only he had a camera on hand.

"Well, after stealing all of the magazines in the Tri-State Area, I was going to replace all their content with information and gossip about how brilliant and evil I was!" Doofenshmirtz grinned wider, picturing all of the admiring fans he would have had if his plan had come to fruition. "I was even going to include a shopping catalogue to buy clothes designed to commit their allegiance to me, but I hadn't quite gotten the hang of sewing yet. I was hoping some clothing companies would become under my control so that I could have them make the outfits." As an afterthought, he included, "I made them black so that you would like it!"

"Oh...thanks," Vanessa said after a while, assuming that was supposed to be a touching gesture.

"Yeah, but Perry the Platypus thwarted me before I could even change on magazine." Doofenshmirtz sulked, still upset by his nemesis' harsh treatment towards him. He didn't even apologize for what he had done!

"Wait." Vanessa narrowed her eyes, looking from the cover of the magazine to her father. "You said that you didn't get to change one? Did you already have a replica of what you wanted to make?"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Vanessa? Now I'm confused," Doofenshmirtz stated, making his way over to his daughter. She wordlessly handed him the magazine she had been staring at for the past few minutes. "Is that... Is that me?"

"You didn't make this?" Vanessa warily questioned, but her father just shook his head.

"No. Oh, this is so weird! It's like I have a stalker or something!" He blinked, slowly looking around the room. He lowered his voice. "Uh, hello? Is anybody there?"

"Let me see," Vanessa ordered, taking the magazine back from her father. She flipped it open, noticing that the pictures and articles were exactly as her father described them to be. He didn't make this, though, so how could...

The fifth page she flipped to had some missing letters.

"Dad... I think we found the kidnapper's magazine."

Vanessa pulled a black cellphone out of her pocket and dialed a number she had been given earlier that day. She needed to tell Ferb what she had found.

* * *

><p>Perry arrived back at his home in a matter of minutes. The backyard was empty, so he simply directed his jetpack towards there and landed on the ground. He looked around, making sure he hadn't been seen or followed before he headed over to the tree, going around it so that he was hidden behind the trunk.<p>

A quick knock on the bark caused an entrance to appear within the tree, and he jumped inside the sliding tunnel that led him to his lair. He exited the sliding tunnel, landing right onto his chair with perfect precision. There wasn't a long wait before the large, movie-theater-sized screen blipped on, showing Major Monogram's head and shoulders on the screen. The man wasted no time in filling Perry in on the latest update.

"Agent P! Admiral Wanda has contacted me with vital information," Major Monogram reported. "Carl! Provide the explanation!"

Carl appeared on the screen next to Major Monogram, holding a piece of shrapnel up to the camera. "As you know, Dr. Doofenshmirtz from the other dimension had all of his robots self-destruct before he returned to his dimension, but a few pieces of the already broken robots were salvaged by the agency."

Perry didn't understand what the young, unpaid intern was getting at. What did this have to do with information on Phineas? They weren't assigning him to another case, were they?

"Agent Pinky recognized the scent and linked it back to this metal with Peter the Panda's help."

Now Perry really didn't understand. Was Agent Pinky claiming that the same type of metal that was found in the robots was used to create the tripod? How was that possible? The Doofenshmirtz from the other dimension had been arrested and sentenced to a high security prison for his crimes against humanity.

Had he escaped?

Major Monogram picked up where Carl had left off. "We don't know who is behind this, but make sure that Doofenshmirtz did not build another other-dimension-inator. Meanwhile, Agent Pinky and Peter the Panda are going to look into this more. They'll report to you if they find anything."

Perry saluted, preparing to make yet another trip on his jetpack to Doofenshmirtz's place. He hoped that this would not be another dead end.

After all, wasn't it three strikes and you're out?


	8. An Unexpected Confrontation

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><p>Chapter Eight: An Unexpected Confrontation<p>

The route over the suburban neighborhoods and through the city was one that Perry knew like the back of his hand. He could navigate it with a blindfold on and manage to arrive at his destination without taking a wrong turn or bumping into anything that wasn't out of the ordinary. In fact, the only time he had a problem with this route was back when he took off in his brand-new rocket-car, but that wasn't entirely his fault. He hadn't been warned about the accelerator being a little touchy, and due to the unexpected, quick acceleration from his lair, he was unable to control the rocket-car so that he could avoid the collision with Phineas and Ferb in their shuttlecock.

In retrospect, even though he knows the accident was not entirely his fault, the accident will always define the danger he puts his host family in every single day by being a secret agent. With Phineas missing, kidnapped, and the tripod supposedly being made from the other dimension, this just goes to show that even without his host family knowing of his secret lifestyle, there are still too many risks to their safety.

Major Monogram had better reassign him for his host family's own good. He loved them far too much to cause them any more harm than he already had.

Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated came into view, and Perry forced his jetpack to fly him faster towards his destination. The building was right in front of his nose in less than a couple seconds, and the platypus barely managed to straighten himself out to avoid crashing into the building and zoom up the side of it. He was almost to the penthouse when a sputtering sound reached his ears, causing his eyes to widen as his jetpack slowly stopped working.

Perry used what little power the jetpack had left to use it as a landing to catapult himself from, and with calculation that only a trained, weathered secret agent could possibly had, he just managed to grab onto the railing of the penthouse's balcony. The jetpack stopped sputtering, and the fire in the back of the pack simply died, causing the device to fall all the way back down to the street below. Perry hoped that it caused no physical harm to any unfortunate pedestrian walking along the street.

With ease, Perry used his upper body strength to flip himself over the railing, landing on the tiled floor of Doofenshmirtz's evil lair. He'd have to use his hang glider to return home now that his jetpack was out of fuel and quite possibly destroyed, but Perry had a feeling that he wouldn't be returning home until late again tonight. It was late in the afternoon already, and time was of the essence. He'd use every second he had to find and rescue Phineas.

Going into his secret agent mode, Perry kept himself as inconspicuous as possible as he started his search around the evil lair. In his search for Phineas in here earlier, Perry never recalled seeing a similar device to the other-dimension-inator that Doofenshmirtz had built once before. Upon the capture of the other dimension Dr. Doofenshmirtz, the inator had been destroyed. O.W.C.A. had refused to build a replica of the machine, not wanting to risk such a dire situation ever happening again, so Perry knew for certain that there were no other machines capable of opening up the other dimension.

Then again, Perry had his fill of being wrong today, so anything was possible.

"You know, they really managed to capture my good side here." Perry hid behind a messy stack of magazines, listening to Doofenshmirtz speak. From behind the pile, he saw that Doofenshmirtz and his daughter, Vanessa, were standing in the middle of the lair looking through what appeared to be a dark-printed magazine. He was too far away to make out what anything on the magazine cover was.

Vanessa seemed to ignore her father's comments, something Perry knew the teenager to regularly do when she was with the evil scientist, and turned a page of the magazine. Her expression had Perry curious as to what they were looking at, as Vanessa seemed deeply troubled and Doofenshmirtz seemed very confused. That could not have been a good father-daughter combination.

"Dad, why would the kidnapper have this?" Perry unconsciously gripped one of the magazines in front of him tightly, shocked by the teen's question. They had discovered something related to the person who kidnapped Phineas?

Doofenshmirtz tried to rub his chin in a physical expression of the thought process, but he recoiled his face when his fingers brushed up against his wound. A twinge of guilt struck the platypus, realizing that he had injured someone who was now unknowingly helping him to find his owner. Doofenshmirtz may be his nemesis, but that didn't mean Perry loathed him to the point of hurting the evil scientist without just cause. An assumption was no reason to attack Doofenshmirtz in such a way.

"I dunno, Vanessa. Personally, I think that everyone should have one of these on their living room stand, but no one normally agrees with me." Doofenshmirtz shrugged, at a loss of what to think. "I dunno why someone with such great taste in role models would kidnap a little boy, though. That's just creepy, and it really makes no sense if you think about the evil benefits you can get from it. The guy didn't even ask for a ransom! Whoever it is must not be living off spousal support and can afford to commit ridiculous crimes like this, but I dunno for sure..."

There was a tone of embitterment in Doofenshmirtz's last line, but Vanessa seemed to ignore that in favor of asking another question her father's last line had brought. "Wait, Dad, do you think whoever kidnapped my friend's brother is rich?"

"Well, apparently if he can afford to create a tripod and kidnap a boy without expecting monetary gain... Then yes. I don't see why he wouldn't be." Doofenshmirtz gave it some more thought, taking the magazine from his daughter's hands. "But then again, rich people are so stingy with their money. They'd probably want a ransom just because they had to go through some money to kidnap the boy. So, really, whether or not they're rich doesn't matter, and since they obviously admire me, they must not really care about how one's pocket looks."

A knock at the door saved Vanessa from her father's ramblings that seemed to just be leading his points in circles. He hoped that his nemesis would realize this and stop himself as he usually did when he started rambling to Perry.

The sound of the door opening and Vanessa's voice greeting someone finally got Doofenshmirtz to stop prattling on about a point he had lost somewhere along his monologue. Perry peered out from behind the magazines, trying to get a good look at whom Vanessa was talking to.

"Dad!" Vanessa's heels clicked against the tiled floor, and Perry quickly aborted trying to discover whom she was speaking with and resumed his position behind the magazines. "Show Ferb the magazine that we found."

No, Perry realized in horror. Ferb was here? He glimpsed around the magazines, seeing his green-haired owner for himself, along with Candace, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, Jeremy, and even that weird kid Irving.

What were they all doing here! His cover was going to be blown!

Dèjá vu rocketed his senses as the same panic he had felt when he stumbled in on Phineas and Ferb helping Doofenshmirtz with his latest project had his heart racing. Luckily, Ferb and the others hadn't seen him, so maybe he could remain in hiding from them for just a bit longer to get the information that he needed and get out of there without any of them knowing otherwise.

Perry inwardly sighed, wondering when five years became the marker that spelt "the end" to his normal routine.

Keeping a careful eye on the kids and being more cautious with his exposure than ever before, the secret agent spied on the events taking place right before him. As soon as Ferb was in reaching distance of Doofenshmirtz, Perry had to contain an instinctual growl, lest he reveal himself to everyone. He really hoped that they weren't around Doofenshmirtz for too long. It made him very uneasy. If Doofenshmirtz ever realized that they were friends of Perry's, there was no telling how the evil scientist would react!

Doofenshmirtz handed the magazine to the strange, green-haired child, but not without giving the boy an inquisitive stare. Perry caught it, and he knew immediately that Doofenshmirtz's stare signaled that he held some sort of faint recognition of Ferb. While the amnesia-inator can erase memory, it has not been found whether the effects are permanent or the extent that the amnesia-inator erases. Perry knew this because, prior to Phineas' kidnapping, Phineas had shown signs of noticing Isabella more than usual and purposely going out of his way to include her in their plans without her having to ask him.

Ferb quickly read over the magazine and its contents, looking out of the corner of his eye at Doofenshmirtz from time to time. He stopped flipping through the pages at what Perry calculated as the fifth page, and he held out the magazine so that everyone else could see what had caught his eye, including Perry.

Small pieces of the magazine were missing, making it appear as though certain things had been cut out. Perry recalled the note, remembering how it had been made with the use of cutout magazine letters. Doofenshmirtz and Vanessa had found the magazine that the kidnapper used to create the note with.

Perry never felt more gratitude for his nemesis than he had at that moment.

"That's it!" Baljeet, Buford, and Isabella simultaneously exclaimed. Candace carefully took the magazine from Ferb, getting a better look at the evidence.

"Where'd you get this?" she immediately asked Vanessa, who looked pointedly at her father for an answer.

Doofenshmirtz threw his arms up in the air. "I don't know! I wasn't checking to see which magazine belonged to who when I stole them! I used my hovercraft to just fly over the Tri-State Area and my magazine-taker-inator to take every magazine in the Tri-State Area!" His victorious tone died down, and he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, looking embarrassed about something. "Of course, something happened when I tried getting back here... You know how comedies sometimes joke about what happens to a person when they build some sort of vehicle and they forget to install the brakes?" At this point, Doofenshmirtz crossed his arms, now defensive. "Yeah, well, it's not as humorous when it happens in reality. And it's a mistake that anyone could have made! Really!"

Everyone gave Doofenshmirtz a weird look, including Perry. Doofenshmirtz nervously laughed, turning to his daughter for help. She just sadly shook her head, trying to brush off the embarrassment that she felt for having to be related to him.

"Why does this have pictures of you with an eye patch that has a scar designed to go across it?" Baljeet questioned, being the first to move past Doofenshmirtz's odd revelation. Doofenshmirtz immediately jumped at the chance to move everyone forward from his comments.

"You know, I was wondering that myself... You see, I obviously don't have a problem with my eye, and I've never imagined myself with an eye patch accept for that one year I tried dressing up as a pirate, but I prefer ninjas myself, but anyway, I don't know why I have an eye patch of all things. Wouldn't that, like, hinder my ability to rule the Tri-State Area with an iron fist?"

Now everyone stared at him as though he had grown two-heads, and everyone in the vicinity, excluding Vanessa, took a small step away from him. Perry covered his eyes with his hand for a moment, wondering how the kids would have reacted if they found out that he fought this loon every day for a living.

"Hehe, ignore that. I was joking," Doofenshmirtz said, trying to save himself. "As I was saying, I don't know how this person got this or what his connection to me is."

"Was there an address?"

Everyone's attention turned to Ferb, and even Perry had to join them in giving his owner a confused look. Doofenshmirtz had already told them that he did not know where the magazine came from or the owner of it, so what was with the redundant question?

Ferb coughed, clearing his throat and his question up for the confused group. "Was there an address on the front or back of the magazine in case it had come through the mail?"

Candace looked at Jeremy with wide eyes, and Jeremy ushered her to look at the front and back of the magazine. In small print on the front right-hand corner of the magazine where they had all been placing their finger to turn the page, which ended up covering the section perfectly, there was a label. Candace read the label aloud.

"To Indentured Servant 3650 at Doofenshmirtz's thirty-second apartment building in the West of Doofania." Candace stopped reading, giving the label one last lookover. "Is this a real address?"

Perry took out a notepad and pencil, quickly writing this information down. This magazine was definitely from the other dimension; there was no doubt in his mind about it. Doofenshmirtz obviously was not the owner of it, despite what the label denoted, and it had to belong to someone who Doofenshmirtz considered under his control, which limited the suspects down to everyone in the other dimension. He wished there was a way to contact the other dimension, knowing that they could supply him with the location and the owner of the magazine.

"Hey, Dad, didn't you build a place called Doofania once?" Vanessa asked, recalling that day down at the port.

Doofenshmirtz regarded his daughter's question. "Yeah... I did!" A sudden thought occurred to him. "Do you think someone decided to live in my now-underwater fortress and is kidnapping children in order to add more to the population?"

"Um," Candace voiced for everyone. "What does your father actually do for a living?"

"Evil," Vanessa replied without missing a beat. "But don't worry; he has yet to actually accomplish any of his evil schemes yet."

"Well," Doofenshmirtz snapped, glaring at his daughter. "Maybe if I had just a little bit of support from my own flesh-and-blood, then maybe all of my evil schemes could have worked." Seeing that Vanessa obviously did not care about his lack of success being attributed to her lack of involvement, he added: "And maybe you'd have that car by now."

Vanessa didn't take the bait, knowing by now that she was never going to get a car until she got enough money on her own to do so. "Ignore him."

"Where is he then?" Isabella finally broke down, unable to handle the nonchalant duo that had discovered the magazine. "There has to be someplace that we can look, right? This has to lead us somewhere!"

Tears spilt out of Isabella's eyes, and Perry found himself unable to make a quick getaway while the kids and Doofenshmirtz were preoccupied. It wasn't because of Isabella's emotional outburst; the others wore similar lost and helpless expressions on their faces—all except for Ferb and Doofenshmirtz where the prior of the two was thinking intently to himself, putting his emotion aside to let his profound logic skills take over his attention. Doofenshmirtz, on the other hand, looked decidedly less...evil than he usually appeared. The soft sounds of Isabella's crying seemed to amplify this fact, and Perry watch his nemesis' expression soften.

"Uh, don't cry, little girl," Doofenshmirtz hesitantly ordered, putting both his hands up in a gesture for her to stop. "We'll, uh, we'll think of something. After all, I feel partly responsible for this. Ya know, maybe the kidnapper just wanted to get my attention and devised this masterminded scheme to do so." It was doubtful, everyone knew, but no one objected to the notion. Doofenshmirtz bit his lower lip as the little, dark-haired girl did not cease her crying.

"Yeah, so what are you gonna do about it?" Buford questioned, taking an intimidating step towards the evil scientist. Nervously, Doofenshmirtz backed away from the stereotypical schoolyard bully despite being the adult here. He looked to Vanessa for help, but she seemed just as curious to know what her father had planned.

"W-Well, I, uh, I might have once made a map of the Tri-State Area detailing where, if I theoretically and figuratively-speaking took over the Tri-State Area, that is." He grinned nervously at Buford, and Baljeet and Irving shared a look that admitted that they weren't surprised that even a weirdo adult would be afraid of their bully-friend. Buford was very intimidating when he wanted to be, even if Perry never quite found the pale boy to be. "S-So, I think I could figure out from that map where the location might be, but there's no certainty that the location will even be marked on there or if I marked it like that, and we'll never know who Indentured Servant 3650 is because I never had quite enough time on my hands to get that specific with those domination plans that I theoretically have just in case the situation ever arises because, you know, it never hurts to be prepared."

"...who are you again?" Jeremy asked, making sure that Candace was hidden partially behind him in case the crazy, lab-coat-wearing guy tried anything. "A pharmacist?"

"You know, more than just pharmacists where lab coats," Doofenshmirtz grumbled. He had expressed a desire to change his wardrobe a few times while battling Perry in public, but he had never gotten around to doing so. It was his signature look, so Perry could care less if people thought he was fighting a pharmacist.

"Ferb?" Isabella asked, noticing that he did not seem to be paying attention to the conversation. He stopped spacing out, bringing his attention to the girl in front of him instead of keeping to his thoughts. Isabella sniffed loudly, trying to compose herself. "What do you think about all of this?"

Ferb opened his mouth, getting only a few words out. "Well, I think—"

A loud sound and the feeling of an earthquake taking place overtook the room, effectively cutting Ferb off. The stack of magazines Perry had been hiding behind fell on top of him, and he didn't dare try to get out from underneath them in fear of exposing himself to the group. He didn't know what was going on, but he prayed that it would end quickly before something irreversible happened.

Isabella and Candace's distinct screams were accompanied by Baljeet's high-pitched voice and Doofenshmirtz and Irving's nasally voice. Mechanical movement also reached Perry's ears, but it was Vanessa's cry that pushed him into action.

"FERB!"

Perry jumped out of the pile of magazines, wildly surveying the area. Candace and Jeremy were off to the side, trying to regain their senses after appearing to have been knocked away across the room together. Baljeet and Buford also seemed to have been knocked across the room, but both lay still on the ground, appearing to have taken a direct hit themselves.

Something large and heavy moved, quaking the ground once more. More mechanical-like sounds filled the area too, proving that the action and the sound matched up. He looked over to the balcony area, prepared to face whatever had intruded upon Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated.

Only to come face-to-face with a shocked Isabella.

"Perry?" she whispered with disbelief in her voice. Doofenshmirtz, who had landed behind her, heard Isabella's whisper and looked over, gasping at the sight.

"Perry the Platypus! What are you doing here?"

Perry ignored them, knowing that he would deal with it later. Beyond the two, though, Perry saw Vanessa rushing after a giant tripod machine...that had Ferb in one of it's robotic hands.

Without a second to spare, Perry leapt over Isabella and Doofenshmirtz, using all of his speed and energy to rush towards the tripod that was making its way towards the open balcony. He shot past Vanessa, and just as the tripod jumped up, folding its mechanical legs back inside its body and activating four rocket-powered jets, Perry jumped, throwing himself at the machine and over the balcony. One hand extended towards Ferb, wanting to grab him before the tripod stole from him again, but as he started to descend, he realized that he was too short.

Perry braced himself for the inevitable fall and the consequences of his failure, but a human hand just a bit large than his own grabbed his wrist. He looked up, seeing that Ferb had reached forward as far as the tripod's grip would allow to grab him.

Their eyes met, and Perry prepared himself to face a look of disbelief and hurt, just like the look Phineas had given him when he discovered his secret.

Ferb just looked at him with scared, hopeful eyes.

The tripod picked up speed as it went off through the sky, and Ferb held onto him tighter as the wind picked up. Perry reached forward and grabbed Ferb's wrist with his hand, using Ferb's arm to pull himself up. Ferb only let go of his wrist when he was sure that Perry had safely acquired some ground to use to stand on while they went sailing through the air.

Trying a primeval method to free Ferb first, Perry grabbed the boy under his arms, quite similar to the method Ferb used to hold him by, and pulled upwards. The mechanical fingers allowed no room for the boy to slip past them, though, so Perry had to resort to other needs. He stomped on the metal parts, using pure physical strength to create a dent or weaken them so that he could create a just big enough opening to pull Ferb out from the grip. He really wished that he had that metal-melting, handheld laser that Major Monogram had confiscated when Carl tried using it as a laser pointer.

"Perry, look out!" Ferb shouted, reaching out to grab his pet. He wasn't quick enough, though, and Perry found himself being slapped away by the other hard, metal hand. Luck was not on his side as he failed to land somewhere on the tripod.

Perry fell to the ground, watching as Ferb was taken farther and farther away from him. What he expected would be his demise from the long fall turned out to be not true, as his fall turned out to be rather shorter than expected.

"Gotcha!" Doofenshmirtz exclaimed as Perry landed on top of a cushioned seat located inside Doofenshmirtz's hovercraft. "You know, this thing may not have brakes still, but I can still get it to work just fine, and it's not as if we need to stop anytime soon."

Perry found himself proven wrong yet again, but he didn't mind being wrong this time. Now Perry had never felt more gratitude for his nemesis than he had at that moment.


	9. Rescue Team

Author's Note: Wow! Over 100 reviews? You guys are simply the best! Thank you to everyone who has read, favorite'd, alerted, and reviewed this story. Your support and encouragement is greatly appreciated, and I hope that you all enjoy the rest of the story.

This chapter was supposed to be posted much earlier, but I experienced a lot of technical difficulties with it. Sorry for the delay!

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><p>Chapter Nine: Rescue Team<p>

Vanessa remained kneeling on the floor, frozen to the spot as the tripod flew away from her father's penthouse; the figure of Ferb struggling to hold onto Perry the Platypus embedded in her mind. Would Perry be able to save Ferb? He may be a secret agent who held an infallible victory record against her father, but would he be able to hold his own against that thing?

"Hey!" her father exclaimed, picking himself off the ground. He marched past his daughter, giving off a strong, annoyed aura. "Where does Perry the Platypus think he's going? You know, the nerve of that platypus sometimes—he didn't even greet me in my own home!"

Snapping out of her state of horror, Vanessa glared at her father. "Dad! Is that really all you can think of right now? Ferb's been kidnapped!"

"As was my nemesis! Technically-speaking, of course," her dad replied, glaring at the tripod's disappearing form. "First he breaks routine by attacking me this morning, then he further breaks it by sneaking around my home without me doing anything evil, and now he's focused on another evildoer!"

"I'm confused," a small, girlish voice stated, causing Vanessa to look over at the dark-haired girl with a pink bow in her hair. She meant to ask Ferb what his friends' names were before... "Why was Perry wearing a hat?"

"It was his secret agent hat!" her dad answered as though it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. "All animal agents wear fedoras—everyone knows that!"

"I knew it!" Vanessa watched as the small Indian boy with the pale, large boy slowly came to their senses, giving their attention to the orange-haired freakish kid with the glasses who had made the proclamation. She had to wonder how anyone aside from her, her father, and other evildoers were aware that secret animal agents wore fedoras. "It all makes so much sense now! That's why he always sneaks away during the day!"

"Yeah," the orange-haired girl who Vanessa recognized as the girl who answered the number of the cellphone Ferb had given her earlier that day suddenly spoke, her voice raising as she became more confident in what she was saying. "Yeah! I remember seeing him in that hat before! We were in that stupid cave, but I thought I was hallucinating, but I really wasn't, so everything that happened wasn't just in my head!" Her tone of excitement sharply fell. "Do you think he'll be able to save Ferb?"

Vanessa looked to her father for an answer, but he was preoccupied with clearing off the hovercraft he had crash-landed into his lair earlier. It seemed a bit banged up, but only another machine that was inside it seemed beyond operational. She guessed it was the magazine vacuum that her dad had mentioned to them.

"Perry loves Phineas and Ferb," the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy standing next to the orange-haired girl stated, responding to the girl's question. He stood up and offered his hand out to the long-necked girl. She took it with a small, grateful smile. "He'll give his best to save them—both of them."

"Yeah, yeah." A loud clank accompanied her father's grumble as he tossed out the final bit of debris from the hovercraft. He wasted no time in climbing in it. "Vanessa, go in my desk and find that map, and call me on your cell when you locate that address."

"Uh, sure, Dad..." Vanessa responded, albeit slowly as she regarded her father. "Where are you going?"

The engine of the hovercraft roared to life, and the mechanism ascended straight up into the air. A look of irritation still remained on her father's face, but there was also something else. She couldn't place it.

"Well, I can't let Perry the Platypus get himself killed by some other evil person," her father stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "We are supposed to be frenemies after all."

It was probably one of the most endearing things Vanessa had ever heard her father say in regards to Perry the Platypus.

"Good luck!" she called out as her father pressed the gas on the hovercraft, zooming out of his evil lair. She watched him leave after the tripod that was only a speck in the sky now for a bit before turning to the remaining people in her father's penthouse. There was a strange silence amongst the lot of them; half of them seemed to be lost in thought while the other half seemed thoroughly confused. All of them looked equally worried, though.

"Can someone explain to me why we're talking about Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus?" the Indian boy asked, breaking the silence. Vanessa gave him a surprised look.

"Wait, you guys know Perry because he's Ferb's pet?" she shot back. From her father's stories about the platypus, she always assumed that he lived with the agency that he worked as a secret agent for. Ferb could not have been part of that agency, could he?

"And Phineas'," the orange-haired girl added in. "Yeah, my brothers got him a little over five years ago at this new pet shop that had opened up. We got him because, according to my brothers, platypus aren't known for doing much." She gave an unladylike snort. "Yeah, being a secret agent is totally the definition of not doing much."

"Perry's a secret agent?" the large, pale boy next to the Indian boy asked. Now Vanessa wished she had the foresight to ask her father if she could come with him. They weren't supposed to be focusing on her father's nemesis, and that's all that they wanted to talk about!

"Listen up!" the girl with the pink bow raised her voice, and Vanessa was surprised by how authoritative it sounded, almost as if the little girl had prior experience to handling large groups. "Ferb's been taken! We need to do whatever we can to help him!"

"She's right." Vanessa nodded her head in agreement. "My dad left me with instructions to find the map, locate the address, and then contact him with the information."

"Yeah, then we can go after 'em to kick some butt," the large, pale boy added, sounding delighted at the idea of getting to kick some booty.

"And contact the police," the blond-haired, blue-eyed teen added. He turned to the orange-haired girl who was still standing next to him. "Candace, you should really call your parents too. Keeping them in the dark like this isn't good."

"I will," the girl, Candace, agreed. "We're not out of the dark yet, so I'll call them once we are." She brought her attention to Vanessa. "Hey, um, what's your name again?"

"Vanessa. Vanessa Doofenshmirtz."

"Vanessa," Candace addressed, getting a feel for her name. She motioned to the Indian boy. "Baljeet will help you with the coordinates."

Baljeet nodded his head, walking over to Vanessa. "Just show me the map and I'll figure the location out!"

"Vanessa?" Vanessa looked at the girl with the pink bow. "Mind if I have my Fireside Girls come over?"

"Um, no, but why?" The request seemed rather strange. What would a bunch of Fireside Girls assist with? This was not the time to sell their logs of goodies.

"Isabella, what are you planning?" Candace asked the dark-haired girl with the pink bow, revealing the young girl's name to Vanessa.

Isabella gestured around Vanessa's lair. "There are tons of parts around here. If we're going to help rescue Phineas and Ferb, then we're going to need to think like them."

Vanessa didn't understand what Isabella was getting at, but Candace grinned, getting this little twinkle in her eyes.

"Fight fire with fire, huh?" Candace's face held nothing short of confidence and determination. "Guys, I know what we're going to do today!"

That line must have been popular with the group, as only the blond-haired guy and Vanessa did not burst out into enthusiastic cheers. Everyone had such spirit, though, that Vanessa couldn't help but feel comforted. She only hoped that her father was able to help Perry the Platypus and Ferb...

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><p>Linda mindlessly walked around the inside of her house, trying to think of something more to do to help find her baby. Lawrence had suggested that she lie down and take a short nap to help clear her head, but she was too restless. Over ten hours had past since she discovered Phineas was missing, and the police had still found no clues, trails, or leads to go off of. No one had been able to call in with any useful information, and the situation was becoming bleaker and bleaker.<p>

Her heart nearly stopped when a detective mentioned the mere possibility that they could be looking at a homicide case. They had all just about lost hope that her innocent, caring baby boy was still alive.

She didn't. She wished that meant more, though.

"Linda, please sit down, dear," her husband begged as she walked by him in the hall for the eighth time. She'd circle the house, stopping in the boys' room for a bit to stare at the empty beds, and then continue her route.

She breathed a heavy sigh. "Lawrence, I... I can't. I need to pace. I just—I just need to do something."

"Yes, yes," Lawrence responded with a tired sigh of his own. "I understand; I feel the same way." He walked up to her, taking her hands in his. "But I don't want you to drive yourself crazy, love."

Linda leaned forward, using her husband for support. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I just can't handle this. Today has felt like an entire lifetime to me, and without my daily routine..." She picked her head up, looking at Lawrence with sudden concern. "Candace hasn't called me once, and neither have Ferb or her checked in with us."

Lawrence's eyes widened for a quick second before returning to normal size as he quickly recomposed himself. "Well, Candace is probably with Jeremy, and Ferb is probably off with the neighborhood kids. There's no need to worry."

His wife shook her head. "No, they would have checked in by now, especially with everything going on." She pulled away from her husband, walking over to her purse where she rummaged through it until she found her cellphone. Flipping it open, she checked it for missed calls or messages.

She turned back to Lawrence. "No calls or messages. There's always something going on when Candace doesn't try to contact me within a few hours of being away from my side." She pressed some buttons on her cellphone and held it up to her ear, waiting. "... She's not answering. Lawrence, she's not answering!"

"Calm down now," Lawrence told his wife in the calmest voice he could muster himself. "Let's just call the kids' parents. I'm sure they're over at one of the houses. They're smart kids."

"You're right," Linda agreed, but she desperately tried to back up her husband's claim by calling a few numbers. Dread filled her heart and stomach as each and every household she called claimed to have not seen Candace, Ferb, and a few others of the neighborhood children for hours.

"No, Isabella was with Ferb the last time I saw them. I thought they were in your backyard. Have you called Baljeet's mother?"

"No, Baljeet was with his good friend, Buford, and went off to see Ferb. I haven't seen him since."

"No, Candace isn't here. Jeremy did go over to your house a few hours ago. I haven't seen him since."

Every house she called said something along the same lines, only some parents mentioned their daughters leaving not too long ago for a Fireside Girl meeting, but none of them knew the exact location of where their children had gone. Fireside Girls tended to have impromptu meetings anywhere, so it didn't bother any of them.

Linda dialed one more number, on the verge of tears. Lawrence stuck by her side, gripping her shoulders as she made the last call that would confirm her deepest fears.

"Dr. Hirano?" Linda shakily asked into the speaker as a feminine voice greeted her. "It's Linda. Does Candace happen to be there? ... No? Oh, well, um, does Stacy happen to know where she could be since Candace neglected to tell me where she was heading and—oh, you're putting her on the phone? Okay." Linda waited, taking a deep breath before she conversed with her daughter's best friend.

"_Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher?" _

"Yes, Stacy, have you heard from Candace recently?"

"_Not for a bit. Why? Is something up? Have they found Phineas?"_

The hope in her voice only served to hurt Linda. She wished that this were the type of call she was making, but at least Stacy still had hope that the police would find Phineas too. "No, not yet."

"_Ah, man, and Candace sounded so sure that she would find him."_

Linda almost dropped the phone. "Wh-What?"

"_Yeah, Candace, Jeremy, Ferb, Isabella, and some of the other neighborhood kids were heading off to go find Phineas. I thought for sure they would have found him by now."_

"Y-Yes, well, thank you, Stacy." Linda hung up the phone, sluggishly handing it to Lawrence. "Honey?"

"Yes, dear?" Lawrence asked, taking the phone from his wife's grasp. "What is it?"

"Call the police. We have the whole freaking neighborhood missing now."

Lawrence grimaced, dialing the emergency number. "Oh dear."

* * *

><p>Perry stood on the cushioned seat next to Doofenshmirtz in the hovercraft. They were moving at a relatively fast speed, and they were starting to catch up to the tripod. Ferb's figure was coming into view, giving Perry hope that they would be able to save Ferb before he suffered Phineas' fate of being kidnapped.<p>

"So, who are these boys to you?" Doofenshmirtz asked, glimpsing over at his nemesis before quickly bringing his eyes back to in front of him. "You seem to know them, and my daughter does know them, so I kinda feel a bit left out here. Mind filling me in?"

Perry only gave him a short glare before concentrating his attention on Ferb. If Doofenshmirtz was able to get close enough to fly alongside Ferb, then he could trust the hovercraft to be in a perfect position to catch Ferb. He already had an idea of how to get his owner out of that grasp.

"Fine, fine! Don't tell me, but I will find out later, Perry the Platypus, so you're fooling yourself if you think I won't." The evil scientist tried to appear smug, but his expression faltered and turned to a look of horror. "Wait, that boy has green hair. He isn't, you know, related to you, is he? Because you're a platypus! And technically-speaking, that shouldn't be possible, but evolution is a crazy thing, and with the help of science—" He stopped rambling once he noticed the deadpanned look Perry was giving him. "Hey, it was a logical argument. It's not as if you gave me anything to go off of."

Shaking his head at the evil scientist's sometimes-ridiculous theories, Perry readied himself to leap back onto the tripod once they were close enough. Just a few more feet ought to do it.

The tripod veered off sharply to the right, heading towards the outskirts of Danville. Perry nearly fell out of the hovercraft as Doofenshmirtz attempted to take the same turn, keeping his trail close behind the tripod.

"Geez!" Doofenshmirtz shouted, bearing his teeth as he steadied the hovercraft. "You know what? Whoever decided to kidnap two underage boys has to be some sort of sicko! I'm not even that vile!"

Perry had to agree with him, even if he still thought of Doofenshmirtz as being vile on some level, but the sudden glare he received from Doofenshmirtz made him retract that thought.

"Hey, I just realized—you thought I kidnapped that other boy! That's why you attacked me and broke our routine!"

The platypus had to bite his tongue to keep from letting an exasperated groan escape. Couldn't they discuss that later?

"Oh, you bet we'll talk about this later!" Doofenshmirtz snapped, having years of practice to read his nemesis' thoughts through Perry's actions and mannerisms.

A large building that seemed to be in the shape of a lollipop appeared before them. It was turquoise and metallic in color, and a huge, glass, garage-sized passageway opened up to allow the tripod entrance. Doofenshmirtz pressed the gas petal to the floor of the hovercraft, building up even more speed until they were right on top of the tripod that was just entering the building. Doofenshmirtz's expression immediately turned to one of horror.

"I, uh, there are no brakes," came his hurried explanation. Perry looked at him in alarm, realizing what this meant.

Without leaving any time to second-guess himself, Perry grabbed Doofenshmirtz and threw them both from the raging hovercraft, narrowly avoiding a direct collision with the tripod. An explosion sounded as Perry's webbed feet landed on the metal ground; his nimbleness saved Doofenshmirtz and his life. He looked up, watching as the impact caused the claw holding Ferb to shorten out, dropping him in midair. Thinking fast once more, Perry pushed Doofenshmirtz so that the older man slid across the metal floor on his behind, keeping him in sitting position. He looked over his shoulder to shout something at Perry, but not even a moment later did Ferb plummet directly into his lap, causing the evil scientist to scream in pain.

"Owww!" Doofenshmirtz yowled, and Ferb quickly rolled himself off the man, bringing himself back to his feet. He wasted no time in running to Perry who met him halfway. Ferb knelt down, grabbing Perry into a hug that the platypus gladly returned.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The three of them froze, slowly looking towards the direction the voice had come from.

Professor Poofenplotz glared at them, holding a girly, antique mirror in one hand. "I only wanted the boy, but I guess I should have some other admirers too."

Three fully functional tripods appeared behind her, and she smiled cruelly down at them. Doofenshmirtz audibly gulped. Perry just kept Ferb behind him, prepared to fight to the death to protect his owner.

She pointed a manicured finger at them. "Seize them."


	10. Echoes of a Boy

Author's Note: Sorry for the very late update! Been busy with school, work, and a power outage, and now I have a nasty cold, so it took a bit before a normal routine could be put in. I get to write for less than an hour each day, so updates will definitely be slower than usual. My apologies, but there's no getting past priorities!

IMPORTANT: I suppose this was not addressed clearly enough in my chapter eight author's note, so I will repeat the message in clearer words: Ymaconis and I have settled the dispute between the similarities between our stories. In the third chapter of "Dark Side of the Moon" she states in her author's note that parts of the story were inspired from "In the Dark." That is all the credit I want or need, and I ask that everyone drop the matter and stop attacking Ymaconis. If you're still truly concerned or have any questions, simply send me a message and I'll get back to you.

Also, stop abusing the anonymous review function of this story. The review board is not a forum to discuss matters with other reviewers. Simply make an account and take the matter over to a forum or send a message to whomever you want to communicate with. And please, PLEASE stop using the anonymous review function to ask me questions that you expect answers to. I don't want to respond to reviews within chapters since FFN banned that quite a while back when the review-reply feature was created, but anonymous reviews makes this very difficult to uphold when specific questions are asked. (FYI: Song lyrics within fanfics are also not allowed on FFN, so I will not be posting them in any of my stories.)

Thank you to everyone who does not abuse the anonymous and signed review feature! You guys have definitely made this story even more enjoyable to write than it has been. :)

* * *

><p>Chapter Ten: Echoes of a Boy<p>

The looming tripods took their stance before the three of them, and out of the corner of Perry's eye he noticed Ferb take a cautious step back, keeping the same distance from the tripods. One of the tripods lunged forward, slamming itself into the hard, metal floor with its three iron legs. The impact caused some indentations in the ground to appear, but the metal floor held together. Doofenshmirtz recoiled back, sliding himself on his behind in a cowardly manner until he was next to Perry. The evil scientist gave Perry an anxious look, putting his hope of survival on his nemesis for this round.

Quickly surveying the area, Perry discovered that their only exit had closed up, and that their best tactic for escape would be to break through a section of the glass window. Perry would then use his parachute to carry the three of them safely to the ground. There was plenty of time to make sure the jump was right and that both humans were balanced in the air so that Perry could steer them clear of buildings and seemingly random city trees.

Everything sounded so easy when spoken in his mind, but the highly trained, secret agent knew that it was anything but. A million things could interfere with this simple setup. Also...

Looking over his shoulder at Ferb, Perry found that his owner had already adopted a defensive stance that was rather similar to Perry's. Ferb had already surrendered himself to fighting, not escaping, and Perry knew the exact reason why.

Phineas. Phineas could be here. Phineas could be right in their reach. If they stuck it out against Pinky's nemesis and her tripods, then they might reunite with the one person everyone was looking for.

Not waiting to scope out the enemy, as was the case of mindless robots, the tripod leaned forward and swiped at them with its metal arm. It was an easy dodge, fortunately for Perry, and he made sure that Ferb steered clear of the attack while he pulled Doofenshmirtz back by his upper arm, ignoring the nasally, high-pitched scream the man emitted as the force of the swinging arm cruised just before their noses, creating a harsh breeze from the sheer velocity. Even a platypus could tell that the attack had meant to disable the three of them in one go. These tripods were not playing around with them.

Perry grabbed Ferb's right wrist and Doofenshmirtz's left and pulled them with him as he tried to bring them closer to the glass entrance. He knew Ferb would not agree with his decision to aim for escape, but if worst came to worst, then he wanted Ferb safe and out of harm's way.

A large shadow floated over them, and they looked up simultaneously to see another tripod sailing overhead. Perry skidded to a stop, causing Ferb and Doofenshmirtz to do the same, and they watched as the tripod landed directly in front of them, blocking the glass exit.

"Oh, this is great! Just great!" Doofenshmirtz complained as Perry tugged him in a new direction, only for the third tripod to beat them to the destination. They were surrounded. "This must be what I get for helping my nemesis. Is this evil's version of karma?"

Perry ignored Doofenshmirtz, keeping a wary eye on the three tripods that were slowly closing in on them. If they tried to run between any of them, the tripods would definitely take them out with their robotic arms. Perry no longer had a jetpack, either, so flying straight up and through the ceiling was out of the question. From any viewpoint, they were trapped.

Doofenshmirtz yanked his wrist away from Perry, but remained facing one of the tripods as he spoke. "Well, you're the secret agent. You must have something to get us out of here!" He chanced a glance at the platypus. "C'mon, I've used worse things than tripods on you!"

Ferb blinked, turning his attention to the evil scientist. In his mind, Perry knew that his young owner was putting two-and-two together. He looked back at Perry for a moment before choosing to finally settle his gaze on the approaching tripods. It was a nice change from what Phineas' reaction had been, but Perry didn't have time to thank Ferb for his patience and understanding.

The next move was quick, nearly bullet-speed, so Perry had less than a second to spare. Though the tripods orders were to seize them, not kill them, there was no telling what kind of damage they would deem acceptable to do to them. They were in triangle formation and seemed to be very compact in their stances. One of the tripods, the one closest to Ferb, shot its hand out, prepared to capture the young boy in its metal grasp. Perry gripped a bunch of purple fabric from Ferb's overalls and forcefully moved his owner behind Doofenshmirtz, using his nemesis' taller frame to overshadow Ferb's. As he did this, he also built up the momentum to barrel roll under the oncoming metal hand. There was no time to evaluate the success of his move for he had to keep up his evasive maneuvers, trying to let the tripods see whom they really need to focus on.

Using a tactic he had used with the Normbots of the second dimension, Perry jumped onto the tripod that had come close to grabbing Ferb. The metal provided poor traction for him, but he was able to steady himself on the bend of one of the tripod's legs, propelling himself off the leg and onto the head of the tripod. Despite the tripod design that the robots had, they heavily reminded him of the Normbots the other dimension Doofenshmirtz had made; the heads of both robots were definitely the same design. Just how did Professor Poofenplotz get her hands on such blueprints? She was not active during the other dimension fiasco.

One of the tripod's metal hands tried to slap him off with its open palm, resulting in Perry ducking behind the head in order to avoid the painful swipe. His tactic worked, though, as he noticed the other tripods approaching the tripod that he was on, leaving Doofenshmirtz and Ferb free to find an escape route.

Unfortunately, neither human seemed to take the hint and remained in their spots, watching on as Perry attempted to take on all three tripods. If Perry hadn't needed his hands to hold onto the tripod, he would have slapped his forehead at their stroke of stupidity, which was very unusual for his owner of all people to experience.

Perry didn't have time to reflect on this any longer as one of the two approaching tripods transformed his right hand into a laser cannon and aimed it directly at Perry. A red glow illuminated within the hollow cannon, and Perry wasted no time in jumping off the tripod. In hindsight, he realized that he should have ricocheted off the tripod and onto the next tripod, but he realized being caught in midair may have had worse consequences. The laser beam shot at the place he had been, behind the tripod's head, effectively demolishing the metal helmet-shaped head to the point where it seemed as though the beam had simply made the head disappear. If the tripod recharged quickly, then it could have easily directed a laser at him before he even reach the next tripod.

Nevertheless, Perry smirked as the headless tripod crashed backwards into the ground. The repeat of his plan had worked.

He dodged an onslaught of lasers, wondering in the back of his mind as he evaded them why the tripod was using an offensive attack not designated for capturing, but for killing. Something was not right.

Perry was just about to make a swift turn towards the tripod that wasn't shooting at him, but something attached itself tightly around his middle and yanked him into the air. Shocked, Perry could only turn his head slightly to see the tripod that had been shooting at him had manage to distract Perry with the laser arm so that his regular one could sneak up and grab the platypus. These tripods were much smarter than the Normbots from the other dimension.

"Okay, now?" Perry heard Doofenshmirtz's voice from the other side of the room. He looked over to the two humans, finding that they were both missing their shoes on their feet. Ferb and Doofenshmirtz ran towards the tripod that had captured him, and he watched as Doofenshmirtz swung his shoes that he had tied in a similar fashion to how Ferb had tied his shoes to create makeshift nun chucks in the other dimension. He let go of the laces, allowing the pair of shoes to glide right over to the tripod legs. The laces automatically wrapped around the legs, and the added weight of the black shoes caused the laces to wrap around the legs multiple times. Perry was no mathematician, but he knew that simple shoelaces could not withstand the strength of heavy, iron tripod legs.

The tripod seemed to share his thoughts, and made a move to break one leg loose of the bonds. In a surprising twist, the tripod struggled to break free of the laces, and in its struggle the tripod lost its balance, sending the robotic machine crashing to the floor. An involuntary reflex caused the tripod to let go of Perry, and he immediately took advantage of this opportunity to escape the tripod. He watched as the tripod squirmed on the floor, unable to move its legs enough to get back up.

Ferb stopped by his side, swinging his shoes the same way Doofenshmirtz had done. Perry knew Ferb was the real source of this action and somehow got Doofenshmirtz to follow his lead. The British-born boy practically whipped his nun chuck shoes at the last-standing tripod's legs, perfectly encircling the legs and trapping them in their place. As with the other tripod, it struggled to move for a moment before losing its balance and falling to the ground.

"Perry the Platypus, do you remember when that, uh, embarrassing video of me was plastered all over the Internet?" Doofenshmirtz didn't wait for the platypus to give a response. "Well, I ended up tripping over a frayed shoelace, so I had to replace the aglet." Perry stared at him, waiting to see where the evil scientist's story was going. "After you left, I had the time to construct unbreakable rubber shoelaces so that I wouldn't end up making a mistake like that again."

That explained the tripod's inability to break free of Doofenshmirtz's shoelaces. Perry turned to Ferb who gave him a noncommittal shrug.

"Leftover from a project," Ferb explained, and though Doofenshmirtz wasn't quite sure what that meant, Perry knew exactly what Ferb was getting at.

"You've defeated the tripods, I see."

They all turned towards the speaker, Professor Poofenplotz, who looked mildly annoyed. It was hard to read her expression when the older woman seemed to have more Botox injections than a supermodel in her late thirties. She closed her eyes, revealing obnoxious dark pink eye shadow, and then opened them, directing her gaze at Ferb. Perry growled lowly, not liking the old hag's focus on his owner.

"You're just as troublesome as that other brat, except he seemed to talk more." She paused, stretching the muscles in her face to allow a cold-hearted smirk to take over. "Good thing he's not a thorn in my side anymore."

"Where's Phineas!" Ferb's booming voice practically hollered, resonating throughout the lab. Professor Poofenplotz did not seem intimidated by his thunderous volume, simply tilting her head to the side a tad to take in the young boy's form. Perry's nerves begged him to spring into action, but he was reluctant to leave Ferb's side. Surprisingly, it was Doofenshmirtz who chose to step forward.

"Look, you weird, old, psychotic, old crone!" Doofenshmirtz snapped, pointing a finger rudely in her direction. Professor Poofenplotz flinched slightly at the use of his derogatory term of "old" twice. "I don't know who you are, but you better tell us where the boy is!" Doofenshmirtz crossed his arms. "We beat your lame tripods fair and square, and unless you have something else up your sleeve, the Code of Evil Written on Many Napkins dictates that you surrender your evil scheme to the victors—us!"

Professor Poofenplotz looked flatly at Doofenshmirtz as she uninterestedly held her arms up, revealing to them that she had no sleeves. "Guess I have nothing to hide, do I?" She put her arms back down, turning serious. "As I've said, the boy with the triangular-shaped head isn't my problem anymore."

"Then where is he? You don't get to destroy my house that my ex-wife pays for and take my nemesis' attention from me only to lead us to a—a dead-end!" Doofenshmirtz approached the old woman, looking beyond pissed at the events that had taken place. "You owe me for those damages that you've caused! My house, my hovercraft, my back—yeah, granted I'm not as old as you, but I tend to slouch a lot and this hasn't helped it. Anyway, back to my original point." Doofenshmirtz pulled himself onto the landing Professor Poofenplotz was standing on. "Tell us where he is or I guarantee that Perry the Platypus will put an end to your twisted career!"

Perry nearly face-faulted. He had allowed himself to believe for a moment that Doofenshmirtz was planning on taking care of their business. That certainly would be a stretch for the middle-aged evildoer.

Professor Poofenplotz continued to uphold her nonchalant expression, crossing her arms in front of her chest and glancing out of the corner of her eye at Ferb and Perry. Doofenshmirtz continued to glare at her, waiting for an answer. Her unwavering stare matched his, and she finally relented.

"Dead." Her lips twitched. "Happy now?"

* * *

><p>It was the second time within twenty-four hours that an entire police squad was at Lawrence's suburban home. This time, the entire neighborhood seemed to be in their front yard, discussing with police officers the possible whereabouts of their children. Everything seemed so surreal; Lawrence kept expecting to suddenly wake up next to his wife, commenting on what a horrific dream he had just had and how he shouldn't eat sugary pudding* so late at night if he wants to avoid a repeat of that nightmare.<p>

Now it seemed as if the nightmare he had awoken to this morning was repeating. Ferb's frantic tone echoed in his mind, sounding more distant than he remembered it being. As he stood by his wife, solemnly listening to the Police Chief's trained words of comfort, Lawrence tried to recall better times when Phineas and Ferb were in the backyard or accompanying him on what they liked to refer to as "adventures."

Vague images appeared in his mind, and sometimes he could picture Phineas' mouth moving, but no words would come out. Lawrence trembled, trying to force the voice of his stepson to arise from the depths of his mind. It hadn't been that long. He had just talked to Phineas the other night when he bid both his boys goodnight. He knew what words Phineas responded with; he even knew what tone Phineas had used.

"_Goodnight, father."_

Ferb's voice from last night crept into his thoughts. He was the only one of his boys that he could still hear clear and sound in his mind. Phineas' voice remained out of reach.

"Sir, are you listening?"

"Yes, yes," Lawrence gravely answered, tightening his arm around his wife's waist. Linda gripped his shoulder to return some comfort.

The Police Chief gave Lawrence and his wife a sympathetic look, losing his normally stoic front that he had put up before them the entire day. "I know how hard this must be for you. I have a daughter myself and I... I'm not sure what I would do if I was in your situation."

"All that you can," Lawrence promptly answered. "You wouldn't rest until she was safe at home."

The Police Chief nodded. "You're right. Well, I'm going to see if anyone was able to provide any more information."

Lawrence nodded in return, looking around his front yard at all the distressed parents. None of them kept an eye on their kids every hour of the day. The neighborhood was such a safe place, and their children were so smart. He recalled his wife filling him in on what Candace's friend Stacy had said, telling them that the neighborhood children had banded together to find Phineas.

They looked out for one another. You could teach your children no better in life.

Vivian Garcia-Shapiro managed to get through the crowd and made her way over to them. The normally exuberant woman had tears in her eyes and looked completely disarray, much like Linda had earlier this morning. She struggled to inhale as she stopped in front of them, trying to compose herself. Her little Chihuahua skittered behind her, shaking as the tiny dog usually did.

"I never thought something like this would happen," she began, bringing a shaky hand to her mouth. The small hitch in her voice hinted to Lawrence that the woman was struggling to not cry. "I know how strongly Isabella feels about Phineas, but I didn't..."

Linda broke away from Lawrence, enveloping her dear friend and neighbor into a hug. "It's not your fault. We'll find them. They could just be in the city. Someone will spot them."

Lawrence had to admire his wife's strength to comfort another when she still needed just as much support. Despite her breakdowns, Linda was the emotionally strong one between the two of them. Without her, there was no way Lawrence could get through this.

Vivian tried to hold it together, gripping her friend's shirt tighter for reassurance. "I should have talked to her more. She loves Phineas so much... I should have known she would... I should have—"

Lawrence stopped listening at that point, having already been through more "shoulds" than one could count. Right now it felt as though all they could do was reflect on what they should have done and not what they can do. He supposed it went along with feeling helpless, powerless to do anything. It had to have been what drove Ferb and Candace to take off with everyone, wanting to get some control back in their lives before they lost it.

A blurred image of Phineas' face appeared in his mind's eye. Lawrence still couldn't hear his voice.

* * *

><p>Pinky listened to the crowd of people. After reporting the information to his boss, Wanda Acronym, he was ordered to return home until further notice. He had just scampered through his doggy door and into the living room when a loud knock sounded from the front door. Resuming his role as a normal dog, Pinky followed Isabella's mother to the front door, yapping a bit to alert her and the visitor of his presence.<p>

"Oh, there you are, Pinky," Vivian greeted him before opening the front door to greet their visitor. A man wearing a police uniform stood on their front steps, looking somber and serious. The air around them seemed to drop sharply in temperature, and Pinky found himself shaking more than usual.

"Ma'am, are you Vivian Garcia-Shapiro?" the police officer asked.

Vivian noticeably tensed, though her left hand trembled by her side. If Pinky were taller, he would have nuzzled her hand with her head to ease her nerves, but all he could do was trot to her side and wait for the police officer to continue.

"Yes," she tentatively answered. "Is there a problem, officer?"

The police officer straightened up, looking her straight in the eye. "Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro, do you have a daughter named Isabella?"

Pinky suddenly understood why the air around them seemed colder than usual. His eyes widened along with Vivian's, and he begged the man to not relay what had been relayed to Agent Perry this morning.

"Y-Yes, what—"

The police officer didn't let her finish. "Ma'am, your daughter has been reported missing along with other children in this neighborhood. Do you have any idea where she might be?"

Pinky sat down on the grassy ground as he listened to the serious and tear-filled conversations taking place around him. Rage seared beneath his skin at the thought of anyone touching his kindhearted owner, but an even stronger emotion kept him from bolting off irrationally and blindly in any direction until he picked up his owner's scent. An ache persisted in his chest, as though with every breath something was intentionally stabbing him with a sort of viciousness he had never experienced before.

He whined softly, wondering if Agent Perry had experienced the same feeling when he discovered that Phineas had been kidnapped. It was maddening. He gave the platypus credit for being able to focus despite everything going on. The only thing tying him down to reality was his need to comfort Vivian until her husband returned home.

A beep sounded on his right paw, alerting Pinky that his boss was trying to contact him. None of the adults had heard the sound, something Pinky was grateful for, but he was reluctant to leave the scene. He looked up at Vivian who was being comforted by Agent Perry's Linda. She would be fine if he left her on her own for a bit, wouldn't she?

Pinky slowly backed away from the heartbroken woman, making an unspoken vow to find and bring back Isabella. While Vivian was unable to sense his promise, it still managed to make Pinky feel better, and he escaped the crowded front yard with ease, heading into his backyard towards the chimney entry way. He flipped his fedora on, activating the secret passageway with his paw. The chimney opened up much like an elevator, and Pinky hastily climbed in. The doors closed shut and within seconds opened once more, revealing Pinky's lair, a very girly and pink place coated with flowers. Most agents would be embarrassed to have such an unmanly lair, but Pinky had grown up with Isabella and was used to the setting.

Pinky scampered over to his chair, landing on top of the cushion just as the wide screen before him came to life, showing a headshot of his boss.

"Agent P, we have gathered intel that one of your host family members has gone missing. We are attempting to contact Agent P of Major Monogram's sector for more information, but communication with the agent has been nearly impossible." Admiral Acronym kept a stern look on her face, but she still looked rather troubled. "There is nothing more we can do."

Usually quiet in his boss' presence, Pinky broke the routine by giving a sharp bark. She couldn't have possibly been hinting that Pinky was to do nothing but sit and wait for Agent Perry to provide him with more information. Agent Perry had his own family to worry about!

"Agent P!" Admiral Acronym scolded. "I know you're upset, but there is nothing we can do. As a member of O.W.C.A., it is your duty to wait for further instructions when, and only when, we have sufficient knowledge of the situation! Do I make myself clear?"

Pinky, shaking in his seat, refused to look at his boss. How could she expect him to sit and wait? She had to understand that even though Pinky was a secret agent, he was also a pet—man's best friend. Isabella might need him right now! She might need help.

"Agent Pinky, do I make myself clear?" Admiral Acronym repeated, enunciating the last five words.

Pinky looked up at the screen and gave his boss a reluctant salute. It was sufficient enough for his boss, as she cut their connection, letting the screen resume a neutral color once more. There seemed to be nothing more that Pinky could do than wait lest he have to face his boss' fury. In retrospect, he didn't even have a direction to start with. Giving him Agent Perry's last coordinates could lead him nowhere or worse, farther away from Isabella.

Hopping off his chair, Pinky made his slow trek back to his backyard. He figured he would spend the rest of his time waiting with Isabella's mother until his boss was able to update him on anything. This was just pure torture having to remain stationary while he could be running about being helpful.

The elevator doors opened up, and Pinky followed the usual routine, and he was just about to exit the chimney entrance when a furry paw larger than his own grabbed his front leg and yanked him away from the secret entrance. On instinct, Pinky prepared to get the upper hand and adjust the assaulter's grip to sling the assaulter onto his or her back, but he was luckily able to catch sight of just who the animal was.

Agent Peter the Panda let go of him, motioning to what appeared to be a tape recorder in his other paw. Pinky stared at it, wondering why the transfer agent would want to show him it. The panda just surveyed the area, making sure no one was within earshot before he pressed a button on the tape recorder.

Static sounded for a moment before the unmistakable sound of Ferb's voice played on the tape. He seemed to be answering a phone. Another voice appeared on the tape, but this one Pinky was unable to recognize or place. It was definitely feminine, but it sounded older than Isabella, yet younger than a female adult's voice. Confused, Pinky looked up at Agent Peter for an explanation, to which the transfer agent handed him the tape recorder. Pinky took it absentmindedly listening to the female voice talk to Ferb about a strange magazine that she had found and that he needed to check it out. Flipped over the tape recorder, Perry found a piece of white tape that had a long word scratched into the back of it.

Pinky looked at Agent Peter in shock, realizing what illegal action the transfer agent had done. Only the agency had the right to tap phone lines and tape cellphone signals, and that right did not extend to the field agents. Sharing this information was a major risk, and Pinky felt grateful towards the usually stoic animal agent. Peter the Panda was not known for putting his job on the line for anyone.

"_Okay, you and your friends need to get here as soon as you can. This has to be the kidnapper's magazine."_

Pinky knew where he needed to go; damn the agency if they try to stop him.

His Isabella was at Agent Perry's nemesis' place, and he would gladly put his job on the line to make sure she was safe and sound.

* * *

><p>Working without Phineas or Ferb proved to be a very difficult endeavor for Isabella and the Fireside Girls. Gathering the materials had been easy—the place was a live-in junkyard full of plenty of scraps—and arranging the teams was a basic, redundant routine for Isabella. She had gotten so used to the normal routine that she almost turned around to ask Phineas where to start. When she turned, though, only an empty space greeted her, and she stared at the vacant spot for a few hesitant moments.<p>

She turned back to her Fireside Girls; her mouth parted open to give out the first order, but she found herself unable to speak. They stared at her expectantly, trying to look past Isabella's crestfallen expression.

"Okay! Here's what we're gonna do first!" Candace stormed in, standing beside Isabella. "Phineas and Ferb always start with blueprints, so we need to make a plan to go by!"

Silence spread amongst the girls, and they looked to each other helplessly for someone to take the next step forward. Phineas and Ferb, well, mainly Ferb, usually had the blueprints ready for them. Baljeet corrected their blueprints for them, but not even he actually made them.

Isabella frowned, finding her group back at square one again. This was not working out as well as she hoped it would. She couldn't imagine spending another day like this.

That note was not mincing words when it told them to prepare to live out the worst days of their lives.

"How about we look for a blueprint?" Isabella looked up, watching as Jeremy scratched the back of his head, appearing to be in the process of thought. "This guy has created so many things by the looks of it, and I think we can go off one of his old blueprints." He turned to the group, smirking. "Of course, we'll have to make some major adjustments to it so that when we fight back, we won't become pieces of scrap again."

"Yeah... Yeah!" Candace voiced more enthusiastically. She smiled down at Isabella. "Know what to do now?"

Isabella returned her smile, knowing the older girl was trying to lift her spirits. Candace may have lost her little brother, but Isabella felt as if she had lost her entire world. She knew it was cruel to compare their feelings, as they would always be different, but Candace would probably understand her more if Jeremy had been missing too. Candace was lucky. Isabella felt that the older girl actually knew that, though.

"Alright, girls," Isabella addressed. "You heard the man! Find a blueprint for a giant robot! We'll choose the best ones and design our own, letting Baljeet give us the okay before we complete it!

"We also need to hurry! Every second that passes is a second that Phineas and Ferb needs us!" Isabella added, emphasizing the need for urgency. "Let's move it!"

"Yes, Chief!" the Fireside girls chorused. Isabella nodded, setting off to do some searching herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jeremy taking Candace's hand and leading her off to another side of the lab. Her heart ached, and she tore her gaze away from them, blinking back fresh tears.

She hated how much love could hurt sometimes.

* * *

><p>*pudding means dessert here, not actual pudding.<p> 


	11. Multiple Conspirators

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has read this story, and thank you to those who have taken the time to leave a review! Not to trouble anyone for more of their time, but I've created a poll to help me with a decision that could possibly affect "In the Dark," and I would really like some input on the matter. Thanks in advance!

Also, I have been in a mood to read fanfiction, so I figured that the best place to start would be from my own reader's recommendations. If you know of or have a story that you would like me to take a look at, simple leave the title and author in a review or PM, and I will definitely take a look at it and provide some feedback! Thanks again!

* * *

><p>Chapter Eleven: Multiple Conspirators<p>

Vanessa glossed over the handmade map; geography had never been a strong suit of hers, and combining it with her father's meticulous, chaotically done portrayal of his utopic Tri-State Area was convincing her that it never would be. Thousands of numbers were scattered throughout the map and some of them overlapped one another. A small part of the outskirts of the map also contained a smudge on it, making the numbers held within it impossible to read. Finding the thirty-second building was not a conceivable task given the circumstance.

The young Indian boy, Baljeet, vocally complained about the condition of the map, wondering who would seriously put so much effort into detailing everything to such an extent. Obviously her father would, but she knew that the kid didn't understand how much of an evil lunatic her father could be sometimes as she did. Another thing that he couldn't understand was the extreme amount of narcissism and egotistical titles and names found throughout the map. Vanessa figured most evil scientists were obsessed with leaving their mark, so she just shrugged her father's bigheadedness off.

After many unsuccessful minutes, Baljeet had gotten frustrated with trying to decipher the map and instead opted to search through her father's desk for a "key" or something. Vanessa wasn't really sure if he would find one since it would not be difficult to believe that her father simply memorized the entire map and knew what everything meant. He managed to come across a stack of papers with numbers and words listed on each page, though, causing the young boy to let out a sigh of relief.

"I found it!" Vanessa's tired blue eyes tore away from the chaotic map, staring at the paper held in Baljeet's hands. She watched as he flipped through the pages, his eyes skimming over the words at the speed she imagined a computer would use, but suddenly did a double take a few pages in.

"What is it?" Vanessa asked while trying to read the words on the page Baljeet was stumped on. She tilted her head to alleviate the stress of trying to read the words upside down.

Baljeet furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head as he continued to read over something before he answered her. "My family is on here!" He looked up at Vanessa, looking a tad shaken. "Your father planned on enslaving my family? Why!"

The sixteen-year-old brunette audibly sighed, but kept her expression sympathetic. Why couldn't her father be like normal dads in Danville? "Yeah, he wants to take over the Tri-State Area, but he'll never succeed. It's nothing to worry about." She tried to brush off Baljeet's reasonable concern over the matter, but she had a feeling that the crazy look the Indian boy was giving her meant that her words held no significance to him. "Really, Perry the Platypus thwarts him every day. There's absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, about that," Baljeet started, changing the topic much to Vanessa's relief. "Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus battles your father, correct?" He didn't wait for Vanessa to confirm this fact. "Then why is your father so concerned with helping him? Aren't they enemies?"

This was a matter that not even Vanessa ever fully comprehended. The relationship between the platypus and her dad was an odd one, to say the very least. There was definitely a mutual dislike between them, perhaps even hate, but on the flipside, they were very quick to join alliances whenever one or the other went over to the other's side for the time being. She supposed it was possible for them to respect one another, but that didn't explain their willingness to help one another.

"Well..." Vanessa paused, still not sure of what to tell the boy. "Uh-"

"Hey, ladies!"

Saved by the bell, Vanessa thought to herself, smiling as she turned to see who had greeted them. She quickly retracted her thought. Or saved by the stereotypical schoolyard bully.

"Buford," Baljeet began with some agitation in his voice. "We have been through the concepts of gender before, and using "lady" as a derogatory term is not acceptable in this generation."

"Whatever," the pale boy with a brown-haired buzz cut replied, casually walking over to them. He pretty much ignored Vanessa in favor of directing his attention to Baljeet. "So, have you found out the location yet or are you two havin' a heart-to-heart instead?"

A vein seemed to throb in Baljeet's forehead. "This map was created by a complete lunatic—" he looked up at Vanessa to make sure that she was not offended, and Vanessa motioned for him to continue, completely not offended "—and it's nearly impossible to read! Even I need a few minutes to decipher all of this!"

"Buford isn't looking for excuses; he wants results," Buford said, switching into the third-person for some reason.

Vanessa decided to step in before an argument ensued between the two preteens. "Dad's map is hard to read, but Baljeet found a key to go along with the list of numbers on the map. I guess we're trying to find a name that we can look up."

Buford eyed the stack of papers before giving it a scowl. "Nerdy here must be having a blast with all those pages."

"What do you want, Buford?" Baljeet asked tiredly, not in the mood to argue with his bully. He resumed searching through the papers as he waited for Buford to reply.

"Buford doesn't want much," the bully began in the third-person once more. "In fact, he wants nothin'. Maybe a sandwich. It is dinnertime." He glanced at Vanessa, hinting for her to offer to get him some grub since this was her home, but she just gave him a neutrally bored look before wandering back over to the map. "Meh, whatever. Isabella wants you to look over a blueprint when you're finished."

"Blueprint?" Baljeet repeated, not looking up from the papers. "What are they making?"

"Who knows?" Buford shrugged. "Just hurry it up, will ya?"

"Yes, I will. Just give me a few more minutes."

There was a noticeable change in Baljeet's tone, going from preoccupied and busy to timid and quiet. Buford definitely noticed, as he gave the smaller boy a sideways glance, but Baljeet didn't look up from the page he was on, so he just shrugged it off and walked back over to the others. Vanessa tilted her head a bit, giving Baljeet a confused look, but he continued to stare down at the page.

After a long moment of silence, Baljeet finally spoke. "I always wondered about this..."

"Wondered about what?" Vanessa leaned against the desk that they were working on, crossing her arms over her chest.

Baljeet looked up at her, but then looked over to wear Buford was. He stared at the larger boy for a moment before turning back to Vanessa.

"It's just... Buford always mentions his mother whenever he refers to his family, but never his father." Baljeet brought the paper closer to his face, examining the contents on it. "If this is correct, then that means it's because Buford does not have a father. Only he and his mother are listed on this page."

Vanessa wasn't that young when her parents had gotten divorced. Fortunately for her, both of her parents made sure to reiterate the fact that while they both loved her, they no longer felt the same for each other, and they didn't want to fight anymore. Still, it had been hard growing up with only one parent in the household. It felt...weird not seeing her father and mother both eating at the dinner table. Her father's interests made it even harder for her to adapt to her new type of home life, so her parents agreed to put her in counseling until she was more comfortable with the change.

In counseling, after many sessions, her counselor admitted to her that many children act out when their parents get divorced because they feel that the divorce was somehow their fault or that they could have done something to prevent their parents' relationship from falling apart. They acted out in different ways, but one way was to become more aggressive and push people away before they got too close to prevent any more disappointments.

"Does he bully you?" Vanessa asked outright. Instead of looking shocked or appalled at the question, Baljeet simply gave her a deadpanned look.

"Of course!" he answered. "He's a bully! That's what bullies do; they bully nerds like me."

Vanessa shrugged. It was not as though she cared that Baljeet was being bullied, and it seemed as if he did not care that much either. This just helped her to confirm that the large, pale boy acted out because of his insecurities.

Many people thought Vanessa "acted" goth because she wanted to protect herself and hide her own shortcomings. Neither was true. Vanessa was goth because she enjoyed the lifestyle, and she enjoyed the friends she had made who shared her viewpoint. Her insecurities hardly existed not because of her style in life, but because of whom she was.

"And you're still friends with him."

Vanessa's statement seemed to momentarily leave the little Indian boy speechless. He blinked, deciding if Vanessa had really stated this or if she was really asking some sort of question.

"Yes..." he answered slowly, trying his best to respond correctly to the older girl's words. "We're friends...of some sort."

Vanessa nodded. "Well, that's pretty much how my dad and Perry are with each other—except with more fighting."

Maybe her dad's relationship with Perry wasn't exactly like Baljeet's relationship with Buford, but it was the closest comparison the brunette could make that the younger boy would comprehend. Her dad and Perry were more...enemies with a friendly demeanor, if that made any sense whatsoever. It probably didn't, but she blamed her father for that. He was definitely not like normal dads.

Baljeet stared back down at the papers, silent. At first, Vanessa didn't think that he had heard her, so she was just about to repeat herself when Baljeet suddenly put the stack of papers on the table, pointing to an inked mark on the page.

"Indentured Servant 3650 is here!" he exclaimed. Vanessa immediately went over to him and looked over the top of his curly, black-haired head to read the name of the suspect.

She frowned deeply. "Yeah, but... His name is all marked out."

There was a collective frown between them until Vanessa remembered something about the map they had been looking at. She had remarked on how hard it was to read because of the endless amount of numbers strewn across the area, but there was also a tiny portion of the map that contain a smudge.

"Baljeet, check to see if that smudge on the map contains any of the numbers that look like 32 or 3650."

He obeyed, quickly picking up on what Vanessa was hinting at. Moving from the desk over to the map, he scanned the zone where he remembered the smudge being. When he found it, he brought himself closer to the smudge, attempting to make out any sort of number from it. Tense seconds rolled by as he examined the smudge, and Vanessa made sure to remain a few steps from him so that he could concentrate on the spot without her interfering.

"There are three dots in a vertical line," Baljeet murmured, still examining the spot. "It could a part of the number three."

"It's better than nothing," Vanessa said, stepping next to him now. "How can we tell where this is in Danville?"

"Easy," Baljeet piped up, pointing over to the papers that contained the key for the map. "We look up the numbers around the area and see if we recognize one of them. Then we'll get a real map of Danville, or a GPS, and go to the location that correlates with the smudge."

"Perfect." Vanessa smirked. Ferb and her father were definitely going to be all right.

* * *

><p>"Yes! This is perfect!" Candace cheered, looking over the makeshift blueprint that they had finished. Baljeet still needed to look over it for mechanical reasons, but the implied design seemed like the ideal search, terminate, and rescue machine. It had everything that was physically possible to put on one machine, plus some that Candace considered only Phineas-and-Ferb-possible to add on.<p>

Everyone had really come together over this to help create the ultimate fighter-robot-machine-thingy, as Candace occasionally referred to it as. Jeremy had made a wonderful suggestion for the robot to be able to shoot lasers from its hands or wrists, leading his contribution to turn into miniature laser cannons in the robot's wrists. According to him, the robot needed something that would allow it to easily terminate those tripods.

Buford, who wasn't great with actually drawing out a part of the blueprint, simply made a monumental suggestion, though it was more so a demand, of the robot having an impenetrable exterior so that the robot would not crumble after a "wussy shot from one of those other robot-thingies." It took awhile, but the group finally figured out a way to make that possible with some pure tungsten steel. This goth chick's father certainly had a lot of stuff that not even Phineas and Ferb would be able to get their hands on.

Irving and Isabella seemed to be the ones with the most contributions to the robot. They had brainstormed so many ideas from past inventions that Phineas and Ferb had made. Irving, who had been rather desolate through the entire ordeal, seemed to be in higher spirits now that his area of expertise was being utilized. It was easy for Candace to scoff at the weird kid; he never was close to her brothers like the others were. Watching him pull out pictures from his photo album, pointing to certain features and functions of various projects changed her mind drastically.

Irving just needed to fit in; he needed to be a part of the group. Without Phineas and Ferb, without what was familiar to him, he was even more lost and destitute than any of them were. Isabella seemed to pick up on that faster than any of them were able to, and when she realized that coming up with ideas for the robot would be easier with Irving's scrapbook, she immediately involved the weird kid in their newest project.

Together, they came up with rocket-powered feet that allowed flight for the robot, seeing as how Danville had many tall apartment buildings that the kidnapper could be from. They also came up with the idea of providing the robot with superior strength in its arms and legs. Most importantly, they came up with designing the robot much like the Beak was designed, allowing for different people to control different parts of the robot so that there could be a focus point for each motion, making it easier to concentrate on designing the machine to function to the best of its abilities since only certain areas had to be concentrated on at a time.

"It also needs to be fast," Candace added in, watching as one of the Fireside Girls looked up from the blueprint, holding a colored pencil over the robot's design. "Phineas and Ferb made these shoes that allowed for super-fast speed, and time is of the essence people!"

Jeremy chuckled slightly. "Oh, yeah. I remember those. You managed to bring Annabelle back to the family at our picnic because of them."

Candace smiled shyly at the memory, also recalling how she had managed to destroy the picnic singlehandedly all while keeping undercover from both Jeremy and her mother as to where she really was running off every time she made an excuse to leave their sight or have them leave her sight.

The memory spiked another memory, causing Candace to check her pocket for her cellphone. She casually flipped the pink phone open, noticing that she had a dozen missed calls. Most of them were from her mother, a couple from Stacy, and even one from Jenny. She dialed her voice mail, deciding to check it, and held the phone up to her ear.

"_Candace, it's Mom. Where are you? Why aren't you answering your phone? Please call me back."_

Okay, so her Mom didn't sound too worried here. Yes, it was rather strange that Candace did not answer her phone for her mother, as Candace always answered her phone, but she was confident that her mother wasn't bothered too much by her lack of response. She always had a level head.

Candace convinced herself of this and listened to the next message.

"_Candace, this isn't funny. Answer your phone now, young lady, or I swear I will ground you from it until you're thirty!"_

Now Candace grimaced, realizing that maybe, given the circumstances, that her mother was freaking out a bit. That threat didn't sound very serious—her mother couldn't ban her from having a cellphone until she was thirty. That was just absurd! Maybe as long as she lived under her mother's roof, but Candace was not about to suggest that to her frantic mother.

"_Honey, please answer your phone! Most of the neighborhood kids are missing! I need to know if you're all right. Is Ferb with you? Is anyone with you? Please call me back."_

Worry continued to etch itself into Candace's expression. Desperation had entered her mother's tone, meaning that whatever was happening on her mother's end could not have been good. They couldn't possible think that something bad had happened to all of them...could they? Well, Ferb had been kidnapped. That was bad, Candace admitted to herself, but there was no way she could tell her mother that, right? That might be the thing that would send her mother over the edge.

"_Hey, Candace. It's Stacy. Your mom just called looking for you. Where are you, girl? Call me back when you can, but make sure to call your mom first. She sounded really worried."_

Her mother had called Stacy? Okay, even if her spacey best friend thought her mother sounded worried, then that meant that things were serious now. Candace had to call her mother to let her know what was going on.

With the heavy feeling of dread, Candace continued listening to the messages on her phone.

"_Candace, I called the police. Please tell me where you are. Please..."_

Candace nearly dropped her phone. Her eyes widened, staring out into nothing in particular. The police? Her mother had called the police? Her mother had called the police. Her mother had called the police!

What was she supposed to do now? Would she get in trouble if she called her mom back now? Would the police want to speak to her? Would they still be able to go on their mission to save Ferb and, hopefully, Phineas? Just what was she supposed to do?

Minutely, Candace continued to listen to the rest of her messages, too wrapped up in her thoughts to put her cellphone down.

"_Hey, it's Jenny. Word's going around that you, your brother, Jeremy, and some other kids are missing. Are you okay? Call me when you can."_

Word had travelled that fast? Well, the police were probably questioning people... How did things get so out of hand?

"_Stacy again. You need to call your mom or me! You guys are going to be on national news soon, and not in the good way. Please Candace! Answer your phone or at least come back safe! The police will find Phineas, really! It's their job, not yours."_

Stacy's last sentence echoed through Candace's head. Not her job to find her brothers? Sure, Candace made it her mission in life to bust her brothers, but only because she wanted them to always be safe and sound deep down. It was her job to protect her brothers in any way that she could. How could taking a seat back to everything possibly be considered protecting her brothers?

A cold, harsh thought crossed her mind: Ferb wouldn't have been kidnapped. She wouldn't have lost both of her brothers if she let the police handle everything.

"_Candace, we can't get a hold of anyone. You need to call me back. I love you."_

Candace looked around at the group of kids and Jeremy working on the blueprint and sorting out which supplies and materials they would need for the robot. They were going to have to call off their plan, weren't they? They couldn't go on, leaving everyone in the dark about their whereabouts and plans. That was too cruel. That was not the responsible thing to do.

Instead of closing her cell, Candace listened to one last message. Instead of a female voice leaving a message, a nasally male one did.

"_Candace! You tell me where my brother is right now! If anything happens to Irving, I'll hold you responsible!"_

Candace's jaw dropped slightly, not expecting Irving's brother, Albert, to leave her such a message. From what she remembered, Albert and Irving did not get along very well, as he was more than happy to bust Phineas and Ferb with her even if it meant busting his brother, too, who made it evident to everyone that he was obsessed with Phineas and Ferb's projects.

Something he also said upset her, though. Did everyone blame her for the disappearance of their kids? Were they all just as angry with her as Albert was?

Candace closed her cellphone and put it back in her pocket. She had to think. She had to come up with something to do to make things right.

"Oh, no..." Candace whimpered, bringing her hands to cover her face. She just wanted to cry. What had she gotten everyone into?

"Candace?" Jeremy's voice caused her to peak through her fingers at him. "What's wrong?"

He rested a hand on her shoulder, and his touch managed to keep Candace from becoming a blabbering mess. She looked at him with tears in her eyes, causing Jeremy to look at her with more concern.

"My mom called the police because everyone in the neighborhood doesn't know where we are," she told him, causing a few gasps from the other children that overheard her. "We have to let them know we're okay."

"B-But then that means that we can't save Phineas and Ferb!" Surprisingly, it was Irving that pointed this out. He stood up from where Isabella and he were sitting on the floor to look over his photo album. "The police will just make us go home, and-and then who knows how long it will take them to get to Phineas and Ferb, and they can't handle those tripods!"

"Your brother called," Candace told him with a forlorn voice. "He's really worried."

Irving opened his mouth to respond, but the confession had left him speechless. His brother never showed much concern for him, maybe contempt, but not concern.

"Irving's right, though," Gretchen hesitantly said. She kept her gaze down on the blueprint. "The police don't have the training or technology to deal with something that compares with an enemy that's straight out of science fiction. Our best hope is this robot."

"But what about our parents?" Ginger asked her fellow Fireside Girl member. "If the police are involved, then won't we just cause more trouble for them?"

"They'll be fine." Everyone turned towards the new speaker, Buford. His nonchalance never wavered, not even when Candace mentioned to them that the police had become involved. "It'll just be for a few more hours, right? It won't kill them. And then we'll have a late supper once we get home."

Candace opened her mouth to reply, but Isabella beat her to the punch.

"Buford's right," Isabella said, standing up next to Irving. "We need to focus on the task at hand! Our parents may be upset with us, but Phineas and Ferb are counting on us! We will not let them down! C'mon girls, what troop are we?"

"Troop 46321!" all of the Fireside Girls responded in unison.

"Right! Now let's finish this blueprint and build this robot!" Isabella ordered, causing the girls to salute her and begin finding the rest of the materials that they were going to need.

Candace allowed a small grin of relief to surface. Jeremy squeezed her shoulder for one last gesture of comfort before joining the others in working at a faster pace. Candace was just about to join them when a small tug on the side of her red, sleeveless shirt prompted her to look down. Irving let go of the fabric of her shirt.

"Um, can I use your phone?" he asked.

"Uh, why? We agreed to not involve our parents," Candace pointed out to him.

Irving shook his head. "No, I know that. I just... I just want to call my brother." He looked up at Candace, who continued to give him a skeptical look. "He's good with science and robots, so I think he could really help us out."

"True... Yeah, tell him to come help us out." Candace dug in her pocket for her cellphone. Before she handed it to Irving, she told him one more crucial thing, "And tell him to not tell anyone about what's going on. They'll just try to stop us."

"Right," Irving said, accepting the phone from the teenaged girl that his brother had a crush on. He then went about dialing his brother's number and holding the phone close to his ear. Albert's phone barely rang once when he picked up.

"_Candace! Where's my brother! You tell me now or else I'll make it my nerd's promise to avenge him!"_

Irving swallowed, not used to hearing his brother act so protective towards him. He guessed if Candace acted protective over Phineas and Ferb despite always wanting to bust them that maybe his brother was the same way.

"Albert, i-it's me," Irving said into the phone, though his voice wavered a bit.

"_Irving? Irving! Are you all right? Where are you? Are you hurt? Is Candace with you?"_

"Albert!" Irving used his annoyed tone to get his brother to calm down. He had a feeling that his older brother would just panic more if Irving treated him with an equally unusual and uncharacteristic tone. "I'm fine! I'm with Candace and everyone. We're trying to build a robot to save Phineas and Ferb, and we could really use your help, Albert."

There was a short pause on the other line as his brother digested this information. _"My help? Robot? Just what are you talking about, Irving—wait, did you say that you're going to save Ferb?"_

"Yes, Albert. Ferb was just kidnapped by a tripod, so in order to save him, we're building the ultimate fighting machine," Irving explained. "We really need your expertise, but you can't tell anyone what we're doing."

"_Irving, are you crazy? This is too dangerous for little kids to be doing! Tell me where you are so that I can bring you home! Mother and Father are worried sick!"_

"Albert, I can't abandon my friends. Please. Please help us."

At first, Albert didn't respond, leaving Irving to believe that his older brother didn't care about Irving's need to help his first group of friends, but a sigh broke through on the other line.

"_Fine,"_ Albert agreed. _"Just give me your coordinates and I'll come help you guys."_

"Thanks, Albert," Irving said with a small smile. "Make sure that no one knows where you are going."

Irving gave his brother the address and a few directions to help him find his way to the apartment. Afterwards, he returned the phone to Candace, explaining to her how his brother was coming up to help them. Candace re-pocketed her phone, and though she faked a bit of a smile for Irving, the fellow orange-haired kid sensed that something was wrong.

"...is he mad at me?" Candace asked, looking sheepish for doing so. "He sounded it in the message he left..."

"No," Irving told her, trying to be honest. "He just sounded worried, like you said. I don't think he's really mad at you. You know how uptight my brother can be."

Candace nodded, unconvinced, but she accepted his explanation without further question. "Okay. Well, let's get back to work then."

"Hey! Everyone!" an Indian-accented voice shouted, and they all looked to Baljeet as he came running over to them with Vanessa in tow. "We know where the magazine came from!"

There was almost a rush to circle Baljeet and Vanessa as everyone held their breath, waiting for the great reveal. Baljeet looked up Vanessa, wondering if she wanted to explain it to them.

"Well," Vanessa began, "we figured out where the location is around. Strangely, it's on the far side of the map, which isn't really the Tri-State Area."

"What do you mean?" Isabella asked, voicing the question that everyone aside from Vanessa and Baljeet had in their head.

Baljeet took over for the older girl. "According to the coordination we have discovered, part of the map was newly added, but something in it was scratched out. After looking up locations around the smudge, we discovered that the place is not located in the Tri-State Area at all, but the Quad-State Area."

"The Quad-State Area?" Candace repeated, thinking to herself for a moment. "That's where my family took a road trip one time. There's nothing but desert and truck stops and a few rundown motels."

Vanessa shrugged. "It's the only lead we have."

This just served to confused Candace even more. It would make sense for someone from the Tri-State Area to have kidnapped Phineas and Ferb, but someone from the Quad-State Area? Sure, it was close enough to the Tri-State Area, but besides those truckers that they met at the truck stop that Phineas and Ferb had built on top of their RV, Candace couldn't think of anyone from the area that knew Phineas and Ferb and hated them for their projects. They had to be dealing with a complete stranger here.

"Baljeet," Isabella addressed her friend. "Can you look over our blueprint?"

"Of course," Baljeet responded, walking over to her. "What have you got so far?"

"Relax, Candace," Jeremy spoke, returning to his girlfriend's side once more. "Just take things one step at a time."

It was easier said than done, but Candace knew that standing around doing nothing was not going to help Phineas and Ferb. "Right."

The sound of nails tapping against the tiled floor echoed throughout the lair, causing Candace and Jeremy to turn towards the sound. The others heard it, too, but it was Isabella who recognized the sound.

"Pinky?" she questioned as the Chihuahua came closer into view. "What are you doing here? And why are you wearing that...hat... And is that a panda?"

* * *

><p>The word shook through Perry's frame bringing about a cold, unnatural feeling that the platypus had never experienced before. A chill shot down his spine, but Perry felt too cold to even physically shiver. His mind refused to accept it even though his body had already reacted to the vile word. Unable to stop the impulse, he threw himself forward, intent on acting upon the animalistic rage that O.W.C.A. had tried to rid him of, all the while repeating the dreaded word in his head: Dead, dead, dead.<p>

Small, sturdy hands grabbed his tail, sending a jolt of pain up Perry's tailbone as his jump was halted midair, and he found himself returning back to the ground. He looked behind him, breathing heavily and barely containing a feral growl, trying to comprehend why Ferb was keeping him from ripping apart the old woman.

Ferb let go of Perry's tail and grabbed his pet platypus around his middle, lifting Perry into his arms. Perry's body moved up and down, keeping up with his frantic breathing. Ferb suspected that his beloved pet was not used to feeling such raw emotion, and thus was not able to control it very well. In order to keep Perry from doing something irreversible, Ferb held him in a rather tight embrace, pressing Perry's back to his front. Perry squirmed a bit, but Ferb knew that he was purposefully not using his full strength to escape Ferb.

Looking up at the old woman, Ferb made sure to keep his stare even with his voice. "I don't know who you are, but you're lying."

Doofenshmirtz looked back-and-forth from the old woman to Ferb. He looked as if he didn't know whom to believe.

"Maybe," she offhandedly commented, placing her hand on her hip. Ferb tightened his grip on Perry as he felt the platypus stiffen and then try to lurch himself forward. The old woman paid the platypus' aggression no attention, though. "I couldn't imagine him living much longer with his disobedience."

"What are you talking about?" Doofenshmirtz demanded to know, sick of feeling confused and sick of being in this creepy, old, old woman's presence. She must have walked among the dinosaurs or something.

"Now that would be telling," the cruel, old woman stated with a coy grin, or at least as coy as her rigid facial muscles would allow. "As for who I am: My name is Professor Poofenplotz, future co-ruled of the Tri-State Area."

That seemed to tell enough, as Doofenshmirtz immediately changed his irritated expression to an enraged one. "Hey! The Tri-State Area is mine to conquer! You wouldn't even live that long to effectively rule it with an iron fist!"

"You know, you're going to be my age one day too," Professor Poofenplotz drawly remarked. She lifted her head high. "My co-ruler's orders have been clear enough, though. The boy is to be brought to him." She looked over at Doofenshmirtz. "You and your nemesis, though, can share a humiliating death together. Die while knowing that you will never take over the Tri-State Area," she turned to Perry, "and die knowing that your owners are in our hands."

"Like Hell," Doofenshmirtz spat. He then did something that Perry only longed to do; he launched himself at the old woman, preparing to tackle her to the ground and break both of her brittle hips. Perry would have joined his nemesis in a heartbeat if Ferb hadn't kept his grip on him and turned to face a new enemy. Doofenshmirtz didn't stand a chance before being knocked to the ground by the new arrival.

"Oh, Heinz, attacking a lady? Look at how far you have fallen, you disgusting dog." A bald man with thick glasses snidely remarked. Perry recognized the man as being from the evil group, L.O.V.E. M.U.F.F.I.N.

Doofenshmirtz found himself sprawled out on the ground in a good amount of pain in his side where he had been struck by his rival and group member. To his knowledge, Rodney was not that strong, so he blinked up at his fellow L.O.V.E. M.U.F.F.I.N. member.

"Rodney?" he questioned, making sure that this was the Rodney that he knew and not some freakishly strong lookalike.

The bald man glared down at him. "That's Aloyse Everheart Elizabeth Otto Wolfgang Hypatia Gunther Galen Gary Cooper von Roddenstein to you, you hopeless failure."

Ferb suddenly let go of Perry, allowing the platypus to gently drop to the floor in front of him. Perry looked over his shoulder questionably, but Ferb just pointed at the retreating form of Professor Poofenplotz. Perry didn't need any more encouragement to go after her.

As Perry headed after the old woman, Doofenshmirtz shakily brought himself to his feet, still regarding Rodney with some confusion. "You're in on this too? Is everyone after these two boys?"

Rodney smirked. "After our utter failure at that stupid dance competition, I discovered a creepy-looking exoskeleton that allowed the human body to mimic its movements." He took a step closer to Doofenshmirtz, who reflexively took a step back from his, well, what he figured was his ex-teammate now. "I tapped into its electrical input and output center to make it so that it could allow the body to maximize its adrenaline and accomplish moves and strength only dreamed of." He grinned, obviously reflecting on the creation's success. "Later I watched some of the tapes from the studio to discover who created this mechanism in the first place, leading me to discover that it had been created by none other than your nemesis' owners."

Doofenshmirtz looked over at the green-haired boy, secretly impressed. Of course Perry's owners would be young geniuses while he struggled to make just one of his inators work.

"Which," Rodney continued, "led me to meet Professor Poofenplotz, who also knew of your nemesis' owners accomplishments. We decided, along with our leader, that those boys' talent would best be served under us."

"So...what does that mean for me?" Doofenshmirtz asked, getting straight to the point. He backed himself up a bit, preparing to make a run for it with the green-haired boy. Their best bet was to have Perry take care of these freaks.

Rodney grinned. "I was hoping you would ask that."

In the blink of an eye, Doofenshmirtz found himself thrown off the landing he was on and onto the floor below. He rolled from the sheer force of the punch and found himself slamming into a small body.

Ferb, unable to execute an inhuman speed that would allow him to dodge the German-accented scientist, tensed up as Dr. Doofenshmirtz slammed into him, sending them both to the ground. Doofenshmirtz remained halfway on top of him, trying to recover from the blow that he had just received. Ferb was appalled to have learned that this "Rodney" person had tampered with one of his inventions for the purpose of evil. It was against all the Ferb's creations stood for, and he wondered if Phineas had learned of this and reacted with as much of an outcry as Ferb wanted to react with.

"Oops, sorry ickle boy," Rodney said, not sounding apologetic in the least bit as he hopped off the landing and headed towards them. "I didn't mean to hit you there. Here, let me help you up."

Surprisingly, Ferb found himself being lifted into the air as Doofenshmirtz brought himself to his feet, gathering Ferb under one of his arms as he did so. He then slung Ferb a bit over his shoulder, much as a person would carry a sack, leaving Ferb facing behind Doofenshmirtz at a surprised Rodney. With what remained of his energy, Doofenshmirtz bolted in the direction that Perry went off in, carrying Ferb to the best of his ability.

"Screw off, Rodney!" Doofenshmirtz shouted, not in the mood for dealing with his infuriating rival.

It took a second for Rodney to get over the shock of Doofensmirtz's actions before he began chasing after the other evil scientist. "Give him to me, Heinz! Just give up!"

Doofenshmirtz forced himself to run faster, cursing himself for not wearing his running shoes. Ferb was just impressed that the middle-aged man managed to run at such a speed while carrying him. It seemed as though the two evil scientists were using their adrenaline against each other, though in this situation it would be the pseudo-adrenaline of a machine versus the real adrenaline of a human being.

He hoped Perry was having more luck than he was.


	12. Revelations and Confusion

Chapter Twelve: Revelations and Confusion

Finding Perry's nemesis' apartment complex had been relatively easy for Pinky. Peter knew the route like the back of his hand, citing that he always expected the relationship between Agent Perry and Doofenshmirtz to take a turn for the worst one day. Pinky had no room to defend his fellow agent, as he was basically taking Agent Perry's job into his own hands. Of course, Agent Perry would, without a doubt, understand his reasons for doing so.

The two arrived at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated in record time, scaling the side of the building with Peter the Panda's grappling hook. Instead of using the open balcony area, Peter had them climb through one of the tenant's windows that was close to the top floor, taking extra precaution in case the element of surprise would be what saved them in the far run. An old woman owned the apartment that they had entered, but she paid them little heed; she just smiled and mentioned that she had made her famous cookies. Peter and Pinky exchanged a look before they bolted out of the apartment, unsure of the old woman's mentality.

Normal people reacted more when a Chihuahua and a panda wearing matching fedoras broke into their apartment. Either this lady was senile or way too accustomed to Dr. Doofenshmirtz's antics.

Peter led the two of them down the hallway, passing the elevator in favor of the staircase. Despite having never been inside Dr. Doofenshmirtz's home, something tugged at Pinky's small chest, urging him forward. He followed his innate sense up the stairs, leaving Peter to try to keep up with the tiny dog's sudden fast pace. Pinky barreled through the door that led out of the staircase, knocking the door over instead of waiting for Peter to simply reach on his tiptoes to pull the handle down.

There was a lone door in the hallway, meaning that there was only one possible person that could live on this floor. Pinky bared his sharp, pointy teeth, prepared to knock down yet another door and lunge at the evil scientist, regardless of whether Agent Perry had the situation under control or not. His Isabella was not going to be put in any sort of danger—not while he was breathing!

Before Pinky could accomplish what he set out to do, a large, fuzzy, and warm body tackled him to the floor. It took him a second to realize that the black and white body on top of him belonged to Peter the Panda, but when he did, he immediately growled at the foreign-exchange agent from Seattle, warning the monochromatic bear to get off of him or face his inborn nature.

As if pouring salt on the wound, Peter dug a clawed paw into Pinky's back, causing the Chihuahua to yelp. The sharp pinch was enough to jolt him back to reality, and Pinky relaxed his body. That seemed to satisfy Peter, as the panda agent calmly crawled off of him, walking over to a side of the door. Yes, it would have been stupid to charge in there with no regards to stealth. They hadn't scaled a building and avoided making a commotion because it was fun.

Pinky took to the other side of the door, flattening his ear against the small crack that outlined his side of the door. He could hear plenty of voices inside the apartment, starting with the Indian-accented boy that Isabella hung out with sometimes, though he couldn't quite make out what they were talking about.

"_Baljeet, can you look over our blueprint?"_

The speaker's voice rang through Pinky's ear, echoing in his mind and putting his nerves at ease. The coast may have been filled with the neighborhood children, but none of them seemed to be in imminent danger. Pinky and Peter had already come this far, and they weren't going against Admiral Acronym's orders just to observe a bunch of children.

Peter stepped forward and reached up on his tiptoes, grabbing the doorknob and twisting it. It was unlocked, which Pinky figured was Dr. Doofenshmirtz's way of giving up on replacing his door every time Agent Perry burst in. He might as well save his nemesis and himself the trouble by keeping the door unlocked.

No one inside the apartment noticed that the door had been opened, as they were all much too busy gathered around an area with a pile of scrap material beside them. Pinky's eyes darted to the long, black-haired girl dressed in pink who had nothing short of a determined look in her blue eyes.

Relief spread throughout the shaky Chihuahua's body, and his tail wagged at such a high speed to portray this. Before Peter could stop him, Pinky darted out towards his owner, and his nails tapping against the tiled floor echoed in the vast, partially destroyed lab. Agent Perry's Candace and her potential mate, Jeremy, were the first to turn towards the sound, but Pinky paid them no heed as he bounded right over to his Isabella.

"Pinky?" Isabella voiced with surprise. "What are you doing here? And why are you wearing that...hat..." Her voice trailed off, as though she had just realized something, but then more confusion returned to her expression. "And is that a panda?"

Instead of addressing the situation as a seasoned agent such as Pinky would, the tiny dog simply jumped into his owner's arms, nuzzling his snout against her cheek. Isabella, though uncertain of what was going on, smiled and held her beloved pet close, and Pinky finally felt his nerves relax completely.

"Um, Pinky's a secret agent too?" Candace had to ask.

"And who's the panda?" Buford added, sounding as though they had all missed something crucial.

Doofenshmirtz's daughter tried to provide an answer for the confused kids. "I guess they're part of O.W.C.A. Dad says that every evil villain has an animal agent as their nemesis."

Isabella gently placed Pinky down on the floor, putting her hands on her knees as she bent down to face him. Pinky and Peter shared a quick look, realizing that Agent Perry had revealed not only his cover as a secret agent, but the entire agency. Peter shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly at his comrade, and Pinky interpreted Peter's dismissal of the situation as a gesture that they really had nothing left to lose or hide now that their secrets were known.

Unable to communicate verbally to the group of humans, Pinky and Peter relied on the children's inquisitive nature to provide them with the answers they sought.

"So, you're both secret agents like Perry?" Isabella tossed the first question. Both Peter and Pinky nodded to confirm this. "And you're part of..." Isabella paused, looking over at Vanessa. "What was that acronym again?"

"O.W.C.A.," Vanessa repeated.

Candace frowned, furrowing her eyebrows as she murmured the letters to herself. "What does that even stand for?"

Vanessa shrugged. "I dunno. I never asked my dad."

"Oh. Wow. Cool. ...Animals?" Jeremy offered, but even he didn't believe his suggestion was true.

"It's 'Ow, California,'" Buford said, speaking as though it was the most obvious answer in the world. Baljeet smacked a hand to his forehead.

"That's not how an acronym works, Buford! The letters each stand for a word, not—OW!" Baljeet yelped, holding his arm where Buford had nudged him extra-hard.

"You can't spell 'ow' without 'O, W,'" Buford affirmed.

Disinterested in the kids' debate over their agency's acronym, Peter wandered over to the blueprint that the Indian boy had placed on the ground. Pinky watched the panda look over the work, though it was difficult to tell if Peter approved of whatever they had been planning or not with his usual mask of indifference. Going off of the past inventions the kids had created with Phineas and Ferb, Pinky figured that they had to have come up with something sufficient for a rescue mission. Especially since they still had Ferb, the mechanical genius behind their projects, with them—

...wait, where was Ferb?

"Never mind," Isabella huffed, stopping the debate that had spread out amongst everyone. She turned her attention back to Pinky, giving her dog a pleading look. "Are you here to help us?"

Pinky nodded for both Peter and himself, giving Isabella a straightforward salute, much unlike the hesitant one he had given his boss earlier. Isabella gave him a thankful grin, straightening up to address everyone.

"Alright! Pinky and Mr. Panda are here to help us!" Pinky barked to confirm Isabella's proclamation. "This means that we will be done with the robot even quicker than before, so no more lollygagging! Let's move it! Phineas, Ferb, and Perry are counting on us more than ever!"

Once more, Pinky exchanged a shocked look with Peter. This was no longer a rescue mission for just Phineas. Now they had Ferb and Agent Perry, one of their best, in need of saving. They had to be even more vigilant than they originally assumed.

The front door burst open once more, and Pinky and Peter immediately crouched low in case they needed to spring at the intruder. A light-haired guy with thick, black glasses fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

"Ir...Irving!" he gasped out, spotting the orange-haired boy out of the bunch. "I'm...here!"

There was a moment of silence as everyone took in the scene, allowing Pinky to rack his mind for who the intruder was. Allan? Alfred? Albus?

"Albert, are you okay?" Irving, the weird kid that sometimes stalked Pinky's owner and her friends, asked.

Albert nodded, picking himself up from the ground. "Yes, yes. I took the stairs..." he trailed off, staring at Pinky and Peter. "Why does that dog have a fedora on his head, and... Is that a panda?"

Peter looked over to Pinky, slightly exasperated with the first impression people had of them. Pinky didn't have the heart to tell him that it came with the territory when one was a panda.

* * *

><p>Perry was not having as much luck as he hoped he would. The old woman, Professor Poofenplotz, was surprisingly fast for being, well, old, and she knew the lab better than Perry did, which caused him to slow down in order to maneuver around various machinery and overly girly decor. It didn't occur to him until after the fact that Professor Poofenplotz seemed to be leading him somewhere.<p>

As he scampered across the tiled floor, one of the tiles seemed to give way beneath him, and he fell shortly before a metal clamp rose up and captured him in a tight, secure hold. His arms were trapped against his sides, and the hold was actually so tight that he had difficulty breathing.

"Hmph." Perry glared up at Professor Poofenplotz as she retraced her steps, leering victoriously over the platypus. "All you secret agents are the same. Couldn't even avoid a simple trap."

Perry gave her a warning growl, not in the mood to deal with the usual taunting that every villain liked to throw out. He just wanted her to get to the point of what she was planning to with him and, more importantly, Phineas and Ferb.

Professor Poofenplotz idly regarded him. "Ah, yes. I suppose you're not in the mood for such blunt commentary. Pinky never was whenever I threatened his host family either—not that I knew who they were when I inadvertently did, but after some research, I realized just exactly who they were." She smirked. "What are the odds that the Garcia-Shapiro family lives right across the street from the Flynn-Fletcher family?"

The air seemed to freeze around Perry as he realized just how much information Professor Poofenplotz had on the agency. Even Agent Pinky's family was at stake! Did he know about this? Was Isabella going to be kidnapped eventually as well?

"Anyhoo, I'm sure that German dolt explains himself before he fails to destroy you," Professor Poofenplotz continued, waving off the horrific confession. "Rodney should have captured both him and Ferb by now, so I'll grace you with a wonderful story." Making herself comfortable on a pink-cushioned chair, the old woman smiles gleefully as she began her explanation. "You see, an odd occurrence happened not too long ago when people woke up to a partially destroyed Tri-State Area, but since Mayor Roger Doofenshmirtz of Danville turned the disaster into a way to employ more people, not many questioned just how the destruction came about."

Perry squirmed some more in the trap, desperately searching for a release button or switch—anything that would allow him to mistake. Unfortunately, Professor Poofenplotz seemed to be well aware of his resourcefulness, so nothing was close enough in his proximity to use.

"Yes, I must be boring you with these details since the agency, Rodney, and me already know the truth behind what happened that fateful day."

That caught Perry's attention, and he stopped squirming in order to discover if Professor Poofenplotz was really implying what he thought she was implying.

"For you see, Perry the Platypus, before that day, I had recalibrated my ray gun that transported annoyances like that minimum-waged store employee to another dimension so that it opened up portals to other dimensions." Perry's eyes widened, realizing just where she was going with this. "Imagine an entire dimension with the Tri-State Area conquered by none other than your nemesis."

Perry didn't have to imagine it. He had survived it.

"It was quite the dreadful place—admirable, but dreadfully bland." Professor Poofenplotz shook her head in disappointment. "Everything was quite tasteless and disgusting, and I was happy to find that my other-dimension self had killed herself rather than wear that atrocious uniform."

Many horrible things have been told to Perry over the years, but that admittance left him shaken. This woman was not only evil, but she was purely insane.

"And then I met _him_." She didn't specify the male with a name or description, and Perry knew that she was doing this on purpose. "He had already predicted the alternate Doofenshmirtz's downfall and was waiting for the right time to strike. After all, Doofenshmirtz had acted alone with just an army of robots. No one would expect after his downfall for there to be another threat, so when he asked me to assist him in conquering not only his Tri-State Area, but mine as well, I couldn't possibly refuse." Professor Poofenplotz paused, and Perry noticed her grin of delight had turned into an unsettled frown. "But then two annoying runts from The Resistance foiled those plans by placing more security measures on the Tri-State Area to prevent another takeover. As it turned out, they were the alternate versions of the two runts that had put a stop to the other-dimension Doofenshmirtz."

Phineas and Ferb, Perry thought to himself. His body trembled as Professor Poofenplotz continued, but he willed himself to hear the entire scheme through.

"Yes," Professor Poofenplotz hissed, "your owners were quite the troublemakers. It took a bit, but they were captured in the other dimension, which only left us with the ones in this dimension." At this, her cruel smile returned, angering Perry to no end, but his anger only served to encourage her. "In the other dimension, the biggest troublemaker had only been one of the two, but of course, when we captured him, the other one just played into our hands."

An overwhelming urge to get back to Ferb came over Perry when he realized just how similar the situation was playing out to what Professor Poofenplotz described happening in the other dimension. Something had not played out the way they planned if they sent one of those tripods to kidnap Ferb, but were they still going to threaten to do something to Phineas if Ferb didn't give in to them? There was no way Ferb would allow them to harm Phineas on his behalf, just as there was no way Perry would allow them to harm his boys on his behalf.

"We figured the same would happen in this dimension, but we forgot just how...strong-spirited the boys of this dimension were." Professor Poofenplotz scowled, stretching her Botox-like cheeks. Her look of displeasure quickly passed, and she turned to look directly into Perry's eyes. "But I'm sure you'd rather hear about how we captured little Phineas, right?"

It was twisted, but Perry did want to know how they managed to destroy every security measure Perry had taken to protect his family. He wanted to know exactly how they had stolen Phineas when Perry was in the next room over—how they had taken a member of his family right out from under his nose.

"It was too easy," she swooned, nearly laughing at the memory. "All we had to do was hack into your system and terminate the video feed and cameras placed around the property." She got in Perry's face so that he could smell the stagnant stink of her breath. "We just used our handy tripod, one of hundreds that we have made, and had it land in your backyard. From there, the tripod just had to open the window a bit, snatch Phineas in a claw much like the one you're in, and pull him out and away before his scream could wake anyone.

"Really, it was so simple that we almost decided to kidnap both boys in one go. It would have saved us so much time..." Professor Poofenplotz shook her head with a sigh, acting as though she had forgotten to get another item at the grocery store. "Of course, little Phineas put up quite the fight." Perry took note of how her demeanor changed, going from nonchalant to tense. "Getting his cooperation proved difficult."

The annoyance that flitted across her face caused Perry to inwardly smirk. As if Phineas would ever cooperate with them.

"But," Professor Poofenplotz raised the pitch of her voice, wiping the satisfaction from Perry's mind, "we discovered that it is not very difficult to entice a twelve-year-old boy. Especially after we gave him a crew cut...and forced him to scrub the lair with a toothbrush...and made sure that he never entertained himself."

A warning sign went off in Perry's head, as though these methods should sound alarmingly familiar. The crew cut could have been Professor Poofenplotz's idea since the old lady was very vain and completely obsessed with her hair, so that was an act she would consider beyond torturous, but even that sounded as though it came from someone else.

"He still wasn't broken," Professor Poofenplotz lamented, putting her hands on her hips. "But we knew one more push would have him over the edge. Once he sees that we have his step-brother, he'll do whatever we tell him to." All pleasantries disappeared from the old woman as she stared down at Perry, smiling callously in his face. "Oh, yes, we have a lot planned for your Phineas. He will be quite the...assistant."

Professor Poofenplotz looked as though she had more to say, but a loud crash interrupted her.

* * *

><p>It was inevitable, but Rodney easily overtook his out-of-shape rival, sliding into Doofenshmirtz's legs as a baseball player would slide to base. Doofenshmirtz grunted as he lost his balance and slammed hard on his back. If it wasn't for his daily activities with Perry the Platypus, there was no way Doofenshmirtz would have been able to get back up. Since luck was not on his side, Rodney expected this.<p>

"C'mon, Heinz!" Rodney patronized as he approached Doofenshmirtz. "You know you don't want to fight me. You'll lose for sure. Just hand the brat over and let us be done with this!"

"As if," Doofenshmirtz retorted, mimicking his daughter's roll-of-the-eyes. Rodney obviously didn't want Doofenshmirtz to make it to Perry the Platypus. Even that crazy, bald guy knew that he didn't stand a chance against an agent like Perry.

Instead of begging Doofenshmirtz to reconsider, Rodney simply shrugged. "Fine. Have it your way."

There was absolutely no hesitance as Rodney lunged forward, performing a successful uppercut that caused Doofenshmirtz to completely relinquish his grip on the green-haired boy. Pain rocketed through his senses, and he recalled the familiar pain of how the schoolboys of Gimmelshtump used to beat him up on the playground when he wore dresses, or lost kickball games, or failed to jump off the diving board, or just due to his existence on slow days. Rodney seemed to take complete joy in bringing his rival pain, for instead of heading after Ferb, who had taken the opportunity to scramble away, he continued his assault on Doofenshmirtz.

"So this is how it feels," Rodney voiced, giving Doofenshmirtz a well-placed right hook in his cheek. Blood dribbled out of his rival's nostrils, and the sight only served to excite Rodney. "This is how it feels to be on the other side of the fist!"

Doofenshmirtz weakly held up his arms to shield his face, not knowing where Rodney was going to strike next. Sometimes the bald scientist struck him with his fists, other times his feet, and even with his elbow at one point. Doofenshmirtz had never been much of a fighter, and now that he was up against someone with programmed strength, speed, and flexibility, there was just no way he could even hope to defend himself.

"You're insane!" Doofenshmirtz spat, only for his face to quickly contort in pain as Rodney jabbed his fist right into Doofenshmirtz stomach. His brain quickly searched for a way out, and the only foolproof plan that he could think of was to give up—to let Rodney know that he had won.

"Alright, alright!" Doofenshmirtz gasped, dropping to his knees. "I give up! You win! Just stop!"

"Stop?" Rodney repeated, grinning from ear-to-ear. "When I'm having so much fun? You know, I've always wanted to beat the living crap out of you. Having some moron completely ruin your reputation and give every evil scientist a bad name is very difficult to toss over one's shoulder. I think I'll stop when I'm done."

"You can have the boy!" Doofenshmirtz quickly shouted, panicking on the inside. Rodney was not only going to beat the crap out of him, but he was going to beat him to death! "That's who that withered, old crone wants! That's your job!"

Finally, Doofenshmirtz created some hesitation in Rodney, and the other evil scientist considered him. He wasn't left to mull over the decision for long, though, as he was suddenly doused with a bucket of ice, cold water.

Ferb dropped the metal bucket that he had found in a cabinet. When the German-accented scientist dropped him, he knew that he had to act quick in order to save them both. Judging by the evil, bald scientist's physique, Ferb figured that without the exoskeleton, the man was just as weak, if not weaker, than Doctor Doofenshmirtz, but there was no way Ferb could easily dismantle the exoskeleton without getting caught or severely hurt in the process. The evil, bald scientist had already proved that he would not hesitate to hurt Ferb if he got in the way.

So, Ferb did the next best thing: He searched the lair for a bucket and filled it with water from one of the sinks. It was something easily obtained in any scientific lair, and once the bucket was filled, he rushed back over to the two scientists and doused the evil, bald scientist.

Sparks flew out of Rodney's outfit, and the man screaming in pain as the exoskeleton shocked him. His cries threw Doofenshmirtz off at first, but when he realized the opening, he took it. He punched Rodney with all the remaining strength he could muster, crushing the man's nose with his fist. Rodney fell to the floor, twitching, still being lightly electrocuted, but unconscious.

Ferb took in Doctor Doofenshmirtz's appearance, shaken by the amount of damage the man had withstood for him. He had mentally prepared himself for such an event to happen, but actually seeing it was an entirely different scenario.

...what if Phineas looked like this?

"Great, this is going to take so much ice to fix," Doctor Doofenshmirtz groaned, walking in the direction that would lead them to Perry the Platypus. "I'm going to need a long holiday. Maybe a permanent one. Meh, we'll see how much my ex-wife is willing to shell out."

Ferb followed the man, unsure if he should have him stop so that he could perform basic first aid on him. He wasn't even able to ask because a loud crash startled the two, and before they could turn towards the sound, two metal claws had captured them. Ferb squirmed in the grip as it tightened around his middle, and he heard Doctor Doofenshmirtz howl in pain from being grabbed where he had been greatly wounded.

"Oh, it looks like you two aren't having one of the best days ever today."

Ferb snapped his head towards the familiar voice in disbelief, unable to fathom how this man could be here. It just couldn't be, but it was...

Khaka Peü Peü.

* * *

><p><strong>Author<strong>**'****s ****Note: **Sorry for the late update, but life became rather hectic and unpredictable these past couple months (shall I give a shout-out to that nasty New England weather?). Things seem to be settling down, so hopefully I can get back to updating regularly, and hopefully I didn't jinx anything by saying that.

Thank you to everyone who hasn't given up on this story, and thank you for not getting the idea to find out my location, kidnap me, tie me to a chair, and force me to write the chapter. Education and bills come first! (Even if you did, those debt collectors would have pulled out all the stops to find me. ;P)

Last chapter in my author's note I asked for any suggestions for stories to read, giving me a nice list to go through this past week. I still have some stories left on the list to read, but I'm really impressed with the ones that I have read! Here are some Phineas and Ferb fanfics that I recommend you read—if you haven't read them already, that is. :)

Back To Normal and Back Across by **Radar180**.

I Wish I May and Hello? Room Service? and Stone Cold and Confessions of Phineas Flynn by **PhoenixWormwood137**.

Busting, Secret Agents and Kidnapped and Prom, Primping and Annoying Pets by AnimationNut.

After Amnesia and Curing Ferbicidis by **CBREL**.

Under the Past Walls by **Crazy****CM****Fan100**.

Dinner Guests and Like Father, Like Daughter and The Most Important Meal by **disneyisbeautiful**.

Long Shadows and Who I Am Inside by **Kelly****of****the****midnight****dawn**.

Please support these authors by reading and reviewing their stories, and always feel welcomed to recommend a story that you would like me to read. :)


	13. Tips and Tricks

Chapter Thirteen: Tips and Tricks

After the rush of adrenaline faded from her system, Linda couldn't feel anything but a numb ache: The type of ache that didn't hurt, but constantly reminded her that it was present. She also felt emotionally, mentally, and physically drained. Waking up this morning had been similar to waking up to a nightmare, and the toll that nightmare had taken on her wracked nerves had simply worn her out.

She leaned against her husband's arm as they sat on their porch steps, waiting. The police had done all that they could do with their help, and all they could tell them to do now was wait. Wait for more information. Wait for new information. Wait for good news. Wait for bad news. Wait for any sign of their missing children. Wait for no sign of their missing children. Wait for Candace. Wait for Ferb. Wait for Phineas...

The first few hours after a child was reported missing were the most crucial. It was within that time frame that the majority of evidence was found, and most children were located not too far from where they were kidnapped. Most children were also alive if they were found during that time bracket. Afterwards, the chances of a child still being alive dropped significantly.

The first twenty-four hours after a child was reported missing were the most crucial in finding the child dead or alive. After handing the police all the information surrounding the child and issuing an alert, there was only so much the parent could do from that point on. They could only make calls, spread the word, and wait.

It was a maddening game that Linda's sanity was slowly and quickly losing. If it wasn't for the calm resolve of the man sitting next to her, she'd probably be in a bad place right now.

Heels clicked against the concrete sidewalk leading up to their home, and Linda looked up to see her friend, Charlene, walking towards her with nothing but pure sympathy in her dark blue eyes. With much effort, Linda pushed herself up from porch steps to greet her friend.

"Linda..." Charlene's voice trailed off, and she quickly hugged her dear friend. Linda, too tired to begin crying again, hugged her back, not really feeling the comfort that she wanted to feel.

Charlene pulls back to face both Lawrence and her. "I'm so sorry. I... I don't know what to even say."

Linda nodded in understanding. Charlene had been the first person she called, and the woman had immediately dropped her work to call around the city to try to find some sort of information on Phineas' whereabouts. When Candace and Ferb had gone missing, a quick call to her friend had her looking as hard as she could for them as well. Now that it was late in the day with the sun setting, her friend's tired eyes were staring at her from behind purple-hued glasses.

A bruised sky of pink, purple, and blue appeared over a faded hue of red and orange. The sun had set; the curfew for the boys to return home after a long day of playing outside in the summer heat was now. In a few more hours, it would mark the last time Linda had seen Phineas, and it would end the most crucial hours in finding Ferb, Candace, and the other neighborhood children.

"We'll find them," Charlene stated after a thick silence. Her eyes were still tired, but a streak of determination shown through them. It reminded Linda of how this woman had always been there for her during Candace's episodes, giving her constant support for raising a borderline crazy teenaged girl.

Unfortunately, her words and determination didn't break through to Linda this time. That was all any of them had been saying to their selves and each other. It started sounding repetitive and meaningless. She knew that her friend held the best of intentions and had truly put in so much effort for her sake, but Linda was tired. She didn't want to hear the words "we'll find them" anymore. She wanted to hear the words "we found them."

"Yes," Lawrence agreed with her friend, giving her a grateful smile. "Thank you for all of your help."

Charlene gave a small smile back, but focused her attention on Linda. "I'm going to join the search party and ask around for more clues. Would you like to come?"

"I would," Linda responded, taking a seat back down on the porch, "but the police want at least one parent to stay home to answer the home phone..."

Charlene didn't point out that Linda or Lawrence could come with her and the other could stay home. She had to have known the amount of stress each of them were enduring and knew that they needed each other now more than ever. Being apart now would just send either one of them over the edge.

They were a team. Together, they were able to get through anything.

The sound of gravel crunching under heavy tires interrupted Linda's thoughts, and the three adults turned towards the sound. Linda's heart started to race as the familiar white and black colors of a police car came into view. It stopped in front of her house and two police officers emerged from it with one of them carrying a pad and pencil.

Linda couldn't get up from the porch, but thankfully Lawrence walked over to greet them. Charlene stayed right by her side, eying the police officers like a hawk.

"Officers," Lawrence greeted. There was a slight tremor in his voice that only Linda could hear.

"Mr. Fletcher," one of the officers returned. "We have received a call from an anonymous source."

Their eyes all widened, and Linda quickly stood up. Charlene rested her hand on Linda's shoulder, trying to keep her grounded.

"A call?" her husband repeated, letting the information sink in. "From an anonymous source? Why were they anonymous?"

"We don't know," the other officer admitted. "They provided us with our only lead, but we have no guarantees... Usually we discard such information, but since this is our only lead, we decided to gather more information on it."

Linda knew that the police weren't allowed to discuss any leads with them, but there was no harm in asking questions to get more clarification and even connections with vague leads from untrustworthy sources.

"Of course," Lawrence agreed, motioning for them to ask him questions.

The officer holding the pad and pencil positioned himself to begin writing while the other officer asked Lawrence, "Have you or your family consorted with a scientist in the past year?"

Confusion etched in the three adults' faces, and Linda mouthed the word "scientist" to herself, trying to see if the word would spring the memory of a person. It didn't.

"N-Not that we can recall," Lawrence answered for them, dumbfounded. "W-Why—"

"Are you familiar with the surname Doofenshmirtz?"

Shocked looks were all around, and Linda immediately snapped her head toward Charlene. Charlene's eyes had widened, and she brought a hand to her mouth to cover her dropped jaw. Confusion, shock, and horror conflicted with the emotions that flitted across her expression.

"Of course," Lawrence promptly answered once he recovered from his initial shock. "He's the mayor, and his ex-sister-in-law is standing right next to my wife."

"Ex?" the police officer questioned, looking over at Charlene. "Heinz Doofenshmirtz's ex-wife?"

"Y-Yes," Charlene told them, clearly shaken by the direction the conversation had taken. "I don't understand..."

"Ma'am, have you been in contact with your ex-husband recently?"

"N-Not since this morning when I dropped Vanessa off at his home. Why—I don't understand—"

"Ma'am," the police officer cut her off with a sharp tone. "We're going to need to take you down to the station for questioning."

"What for?" Lawrence demanded to know, trying to protect his wife's friend. "What is going on?"

"What does my ex-husband have to do with this?" Charlene's tone had taken an edge on hysterical. She looked to Linda. "Linda, I-I don't know what's going on."

With an awkward clearing of his throat, the police officer that had been writing information down on the pad said, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but your husband is a potential suspect. We're going to need your full cooperation in our investigation."

* * *

><p>The Organization Without a Cool Acronym operated directly under the President of the United States, so in cases of emergency, such as an Amber Alert, the organization was allowed to utilize every resource available to them. Unfortunately, this was only a task assigned to the division that was most involved in the situation, so Admiral Wanda Acronym could not facilitate Major Francis' Monogram's team.<p>

"Sir!" Carl called out from behind his computer chair. The young man had been in charge of finding any information about the kidnapping that he could through phone conversations, Internet usage, and Facebook. Major Monogram wasn't sure how important the latter was to the investigation, but Carl claimed that it was the new way to spread information quickly over the Web, so he accepted the resource.

"What is it, Carl?" Major Monogram grunted, rubbing his temples to alleviate his tension headache. He had been trying to contact Agent P over and over again, but his number one agent hadn't responded to any of his calls. It wasn't unlike Agent P to ignore him when the platypus was in the middle of something that required his complete concentration, but Agent P would always contact him as soon as he could. Now Major Monogram was left to assume the worst had happened to Agent P.

"Agent T has informed me that Admiral Acronym's Agent Pinky and the transfer agent, Peter, have broken protocol to go find Agent Pinky's owner, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro." Carl's fingers quickly typed into the keyboard this new information. "Good thing we have Agent T out there. He always finds out this sort of information. Just like when he discovered Candace dangling from a branch on Easter—"

"Carl!" Major Monogram snapped, not in the mood for a story involving Agent P's family. "Where are those two agents now?"

"Uh, hold on... They're at Dr. Doofenshmirtz's penthouse." Carl stopped typing and looked over at his boss. "Sir, there has to be something going on! Have you contacted Agent P? Should I bring him up on the big screen?"

Major Monogram sighed. "Agent P isn't answering my calls. Go contact Admiral Acronym and alert her that her agents are not A.W.O.L. and are now on the case."

"Why?" Carl demanded to know. Urgency entered his tone as he assaulted his superior with question after question. "Do you think something happened to Agent P? Is this a repeat of when the second dimension was opened? Should we put an alert out?"

"We don't know," Major Monogram finally responded before Carl could ambush him with any more questions. "Right now we need to get into contact with Agent Pinky and Agent Peter the Panda. They might be able to provide us with more information on how to proceed."

There was hesitance in Carl's motions, but he dutifully did as he was ordered. Creating dissension was not going to help Agent P reunite with his entire family.

The screen in front of him connected to show a large picture of Admiral Wanda's face. Her stern, ever-so-serious look greeted the young intern.

"What is it, Carl?" she immediately asked, almost sounding like the feminine form of Major Monogram.

"One of our agents reported Agent Pinky and Agent Peter the Panda at the sight of our last lead," Carl started off, noting the widening of Admiral Acronym's eyes. Before anger could settle over her expression, Carl continued, "Since we are unable to contact Agent P, we want Agent Pinky and Agent Peter the Panda to temporarily take over the case during Agent P's absence."

Admiral Acronym looked as though she wanted to say something, perhaps even protest, but she swallowed the words down. "Very well. I'll contact them now to get the full situation."

Two more small screens appeared on the lower right corner of the large screen with Admiral Acronym's face present on it. Both of the screens flashed, signaling that Admiral Acronym was trying to get into contact with the two agents. They waited for seconds, and then they waited for minutes.

"They're not responsive," Admiral Acronym finally stated. Her furious eyes were glued onto the two blank screens.

"Dammit," Major Monogram cursed aloud, startling Carl since he hadn't realized that his boss was standing right next to him. "How are we supposed to know what is going on?"

Carl opened his mouth to respond, but a traced call to the local police station's number for reporting tips about the disappearance and whereabouts of the missing children flashed onto the screen. He clicked on it, transmitting the frequency to their headquarters in order to listen to the call.

"_...ello...ike...ort...info..."_

"Carl!" Major Monogram barked. "Fix the static!"

"Hold on, sir... There!"

"_...sir, what is the information that you would like to report?"_ The overly polite, almost automatic-sounding voice had to belong to the operator.

"_I saw a bunch of those kids go into Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated. None of them came out."_

Carl gasped and looked over at Major Monogram. Ferb and the neighborhood kids had also gone to Doofenshmirtz's? That had to be the reason agents weren't communicating with them. They would blow their cover if they did!

"_Can you describe any of these kids for me, sir?"_

"_Of course. One boy had green hair, a girl had a pink bow in her hair, and one girl had an abnormally long neck..."_

There really wasn't a need to listen to the rest of the descriptions. The children were definitely at Doofenshmirtz's. The only question that remained is why? Why were they there in the first place? How did they even know about Doofenshmirtz?

"_Thank you, sir. May I have your name to help with the investigation?"_

"_Caca Poo Poo."_

"_...Okay, sir. We'll look into your tip."_

Major Monogram, Admiral Acronym, and Carl remained in a stunned silence as the call and transmission ended. None of them were sure whether the tip had been a prank or if the man tipping off the police just really didn't want his name to be used.

"Who would choose Caca Poo Poo as their name?" Carl wondered. Oddly, something tugged at the back of his mind as though that specific name had been mentioned before at some point. And that it involved him in a diaper.

Admiral Acronym sighed. "If you're able to contact Agent P or gather more information, alert me immediately, and I shall do the same." Her screen went blank, leaving Major Monogram and Carl to their thoughts.

"I dunno, sir," Carl voiced. "Should we go investigate Doofenshmirtz's?"

Major Monogram slowly nodded. "It's our only lead. This time, though, I'll look into it myself."

* * *

><p>The loud crash may have derailed Professor Poofenplotz's train of thought, but it certainly didn't startle her in the least bit. Perry stretched his head back as far as it would allow, trying to catch sight of the origin of the loud sound. He didn't have to wait for long to find out.<p>

Khaka Peü Peü smirked from atop his Khaka Crawler, a four-legged machine with two giant metal claws that held Perry's nemesis in one and his beloved owner in the other. Doofenshmirtz looked very pale and worn out, and he wasn't putting as much of a fight as Ferb was to escape the crawler's hold. A glimpse of a burnt red color near Doofenshmirtz's nostrils caught Perry's attention, and he realized with an uncharacteristic flash of anger that someone had beaten his frenemy. He supposed that the anger stemmed from the fact that since Ferb didn't have a scratch on him, that meant that Doofenshmirtz had been attacked for protecting Ferb.

Still, he couldn't shrug off his outward dumbfounded expression in reaction to seeing Khaka Peü Peü. Hadn't he been one of the many dead ends that Perry encountered?

"Glad to have you apart of our team, Mr. Khaka Peü Peü." Professor Poofenplotz stretched her lips to form a small smile. "We had been worried that you wouldn't accept our offer."

The man rolled his eyes at the beauty-obsessed, old woman's words. "Yeah, well, some idiot decided to wreck my apartment, including my wife's wooden chairs, so while she is out buying some more, I'm going to make the most of my time by letting these chumps have an even worse day than me!"

"We probably would have succeeded that on our own," Doofenshmirtz grumbled, but Khaka Peü Peü ignored him.

"That is our motto," Professor Poofenplotz intoned, also ignoring Doofenshmirtz.

"Motto?" Doofenshmirtz echoed. Perry wanted to tell his nemesis to stop speaking since they obviously weren't going to hold back on beating him half to death, but the evil scientist simply ignored Perry's pleading glare for him to shut up for once. "What, are you guys like L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. or something?"

Ferb paused his struggling and looked over at Doctor Doofenshmirtz with a raised eyebrow. Doofenshmirtz was quick to defend himself.

"It stands for League Of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investment in Naughtiness," he explained, acting as though L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. was an easy acronym to recognize.

Professor Poofenplotz cleared her throat, deciding to humor Dr. Doofenshmirtz. "We are Heinous Abductors Together Eagerly Capturing And Kidnapping Efficiently."

There was silence, and despite the ferocity that lurked behind the words, all three of the victims couldn't have the heart to fear the name.

"H.A.T.E.C.A.K.E.?" Doofenshmirtz questioned in a deadpanned voice. "That is such a rip-off!"

"It is shorter and better," Professor Poofenplotz quipped, turning her nose up.

"What! Old hag, your cake is nothing but a lie!" Doofenshmirtz glared at her, and even though he was treading on shaky territory, Perry had to feel some respect for him.

Instead of continuing their squabble, Professor Poofenplotz abruptly and calmly walked away, heading into the back of her laboratory. Her heels clicked noisily against the tiled ground.

"Mr. Khaka Peü Peü?"

Ferb's voice was completely unexpected, and it had all of the males' attention on him. Khaka Peü Peü raised a skeptical eyebrow at the legs of The Beak.

"What," he spat out with no inflection in his tone.

Ferb's expression never wavered as he stared directly into Khaka Peü Peü's eyes. "Who wrecked your apartment?"

"I don't know," Khaka Peü Peü said in annoyance, though his tone had slightly softened. "I figured it was one of your idiot buddies when you accused me of kidnapping your brother."

Perry thanked his ability to keep a neutral face during all circumstances. He had set off the motions that motivated Khaka Peü Peü to join...H.A.T.E.C.A.K.E. If he hadn't destroyed his apartment—no, it was necessary to make sure that Phineas wasn't there. Also, Khaka Peü Peü had been in close contact with Professor Poofenplotz and the rest of the members. It would have most likely have been inevitable for Khaka Peü Peü to join them.

"It wasn't us," Ferb finished just before Professor Poofenplotz returned with a huge pink and white ray gun in her hands. She struggled to hold it, and when she stood in front of them, her knees buckled under the weight.

"Had to add some updates to it," she grunted, positioning the ray gun to face the floor in front of them. "Now boys, let us go visit the most feared villain of all time!" She quickly looked up at them. "I'm the most beautiful, not to be confused."

She shot the ground in front of them, creating a pink version of the portal Perry recalled from when they first were brought to the second dimension. Professor Poofenplotz looked up, taking a remote control out of her pocket. She pressed a couple pink buttons, and the trap that Perry was in mechanically moved, springing legs out of the bottom.

"Ladies first," she insisted, making a move to step through the portal.

"No one here fits the bill," Ferb commented, causing Professor Poofenplotz to jerk, trying to glare up at him, but she didn't realize that she already had one foot through the portal and simply and ungracefully fell through with a cry of anger. Perry wanted to give his owner a smirk, but Professor Poofenplotz must have recomposed herself from that fall and controlled the trap containing Perry to go down the portal next.

He landed next to a clearly peeved woman that practically bristled as she screamed for the rest of them to come down.

"KHAKA PEÜ PEÜ! GET THAT WRETCHED BRAT AND SORRY EXCUSE FOR A MAN DOWN HERE!"

Perry takes this moment to look around the second dimension. His stomach twisted when he realized that the red sky and totalitarian-styled buildings were still in place. It had been wishful thinking that Professor Poofenplotz had been lying in order to shake Perry's resolve, but now...

No, he couldn't lose hope. No matter how badly his nerves trembled, begging for him to just destroy everything until he had Phineas and Ferb back in his arms again, he had remain levelheaded and think things through step-by-step.

First, he had to get himself out of this trap. Brute force wouldn't enable him to escape the metal trap, but Perry was known more for his resourceful wit than anything else.

And he had a plan.

* * *

><p>It was finished.<p>

It was finally finished!

Candace looked over their handiwork, unable to stop the huge smile of pure satisfaction that spread across her face and even reached her eyes. Everyone had worked so hard and gave it their all. Isabella and the Fireside Girls proved just why they were always the main force behind Phineas and Ferb's schemes. Buford and Baljeet proved that when their brawn and intellect was combined, it made an unstoppable, brilliant force. That weird kid Irving and his nerdy brother Albert had, once again, set aside their different interests in order to concoct a machine that would be ready for practically anything. And Candace and Jeremy had taken over Phineas and Ferb's roles.

The outcome was more than Candace could have hoped for. They had built a two-story robot with extendable legs and arms, and it was made out of nearly invincible material! It was also loaded with more offensive and defensive measures than she could count. Vanessa's dad really had everything!

This robot was definitely a project that her little brothers would have approved and even been awestruck by, and Candace couldn't wait to see their faces when she rescued them with the robot and busted their kidnappers.

"They're so busted!" Candace gleefully announced, giving a grateful hug to her boyfriend before turning to the weathered bunch of kids. "Alright! Man your stations!"

Everyone scattered, entering different parts of the robot to man the stations that they had agreed to control. Ginger and Baljeet were controlling the right leg together, which Candace could have sworn she saw the Fireside Girl swooning at, while Katie, Holly, and Milly were manning the left leg. Buford had taken up the right arm, telling the group that he had the meanest right hook, and Jeremy took up the left arm. Vanessa was in control of the upper body by being in the chest region, which was given to her when they realized that Vanessa probably knew more about harm-inducing inventions than the rest of them.

Candace, Isabella, Gretchen, Albert, and that weird kid Irving were in the head of the robot and in charge with monitoring the functions of everything. They also held the important job of leading the rescue team over to their destination and reporting all events going on.

"Maybe I should look into a military career," Candace murmured to herself. She quickly shook her head and focused on speaking through their intercom. "Is everyone ready?"

"Roger!" the three Fireside Girls in the left leg simultaneously responded.

"We are ready to go!" Baljeet replied for both Ginger and him.

"Let's bring it!" Buford yowled from the right fist.

"Anytime you are," Vanessa said with determination in her voice.

"Well, what do you say, Candace?" Jeremy was the last one to speak.

Candace grinned. "LET'S GO SAVE PHINEAS AND FERB! BLAST OFF!"

The other members in the head ignited the jet power, shooting the robot right now of the partially destroyed penthouse. They maintained a fast speed as they locked their coordinates on the address.

"You don't have to wait much longer," Candace murmured, referring to her brothers. "We're comin' for ya."

* * *

><p>Out in the Quad-State Area, Django slouched against the concrete building that his father was in. Normally, Django would be exploring the area while his father did presentations with his big art, but earlier that day they had received a devastating call from Phineas and Ferb's mother: Phineas had been kidnapped.<p>

And now, according to the newscaster on the television in the waiting room, the majority of his friends in the Tri-State Area had gone missing.

His father had no idea that Django had slipped away from the waiting room and was outside, but the brunet seriously needed some fresh air. It just hurt knowing that his friends were in trouble and he couldn't help them. He couldn't do anything for them!

Worst of all, he had to hear everything from the news station that basically consisted of a bunch of reporters that just ate this kind of story up. They looked more and more excited with each development of the story that they could find, and it was only a matter of time before the truth was crossed with fiction to make the story even more interesting.

It was sickening.

"Hey, kid," a male voice brought him from his depressing thoughts. Django looked over to see a middle-aged man holding what looked to be a four-year-old boy in his arms. "You really shouldn't be alone out here. Haven't you heard about the kidnapping and disappearances? Go back to your parents."

Before Django could comment, a rumbled roar in the distance caught his and the man's attention. They looked up at the sky, and Django's mouth dropped as what could only be described as a huge, robotic machine flew over them. It was so large that it cast a shadow the size a small cloud would make.

_Make sure to report any tips on the children's whereabouts that you might have to the police._

Django ran inside, ready and capable of helping his dearest friends.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I'm finally back with a new chapter!<p>

*crickets chirp*

...Ah, I suppose I have been away for a while. Terribly sorry about leaving everyone hanging. I know I hate when I'm reading an in-progress work and end up having to wait months (or even years) for an update, so I feel like such a hypocrite now. I'm really sorry!

Fortunately for you guys, there are tons of great Phineas and Ferb fanfictions that you can check out instead of waiting around for the next chapter of mine.

For those who want the kidnapping premise stories:

Hostage Situation by OliviaGraham

After being thwarted by Perry, Doofenshmirtz gets the idea of using hostages to sway the odds in his favour. The question is, whom could he possibly choose? And how will Perry react to these hostages? In-progress.

Back Across by Radar180

Phineas and Ferb wanted to devise a system for remembering everything, but a switch in the blueprints changes the entire day. How will the boys escape, and will Perry be able to save them? Completed.

Under the Past Walls by Crazy CM Fan100

How crazy can a person's life become? How much can Phineas Flynn handle? The gang is fourteen now, and summer has begun with a disturbing twist. In-progress/hiatus.

Busting, Secret Agents and Kidnapped by AnimationNut

Phineas and Ferb get a new friend and Candace gets a new busting partner. Although the girls seem normal, their father certainly isn't. One man is determined to make their father pay, and Perry finds his secret in jeopardy. It's just one of those days... Completed.

Long Shadows by Kelly of the midnight dawn

Dark events from our past tend to cast long shadows on our present. What happens when one of Lawrence Fletcher's shadows finds him and his family after nearly seven years? Completed.

If you have any other stories with this premise that you think others would enjoy reading, please mention it in a message to me or in a review. The reason it isn't listed here is 1.) I haven't gotten around to reading it, or 2.) I simply forgot to add it. Thank you!


	14. Putting the Pieces Together

Chapter Fourteen: Putting the Pieces Together

The second dimension was a double-edged sword to Perry. On one hand, it provided the safe release of his status as a secret agent to his family. On the other hand, it always had his boys in imminent danger. It was a blessing and a curse; it was something he could live without.

Ferb was held tight in the Khaka Crawler's grasp, and though his expression never wavered above annoyed, Perry could tell that his owner was frustrated with the circumstances. Specifically, Ferb was frustrated with not being able to figure a way out of the tight grasp that Khaka Peü Peü had him in.

While Perry attended the operative-training program that O.W.C.A. had every field agent undergo, a lot of what he learned was from his own experience in the field and at home. His resourcefulness actually stemmed from Ferb's own resourceful tendency. The quiet, green-haired boy was quick on his feet and knew how to use his surroundings to his advantage. In fact, Ferb had outmatched Perry when he helped Doofenshmirtz's daughter, Vanessa, retrieve a canister of Pizzazium Infinionite when they were at the Superduper Mega Superstore.

However, from Ferb's vantage point, the only way to be released from the grasp was to get near the Khaka Crawler's controls. He would need at least one other person to accomplish that... Or at least a platypus.

A plan had already formed in Perry's mind since Professor Poofenplotz revealed that she was using a remote control for his trap. It must have been a routine for evil scientists to do when devising traps since Perry couldn't count the number of times his nemesis used a remote control for his traps. It never ended well, but evil never learns.

"Behold," Professor Poofenplotz spoke, throwing her arms up in the air. "We are now in the lovely second dimension!" She looked down at Perry. "It's lovely because it's ruled by me."

"Good thing that explanation was provided," Doofenshmirtz remarked. Perry suspected that his sarcastic streak was being driven by the fact that he was injured, which he knew from personal experience made his nemesis cranky.

Ferb stopped struggling for a moment, taking the new atmosphere in. His eyes scanned the apocalyptic and industrial-like landscape, and the annoyance on his face slipped away. He remained slack in the Khaka Crawler's grasp, staring straight ahead at the nightmarish scenery.

Perry didn't like the expression.

"So," Khaka Peü Peü drawled out, turning everyone's, apart from Ferb's, attention onto him. "This is the second dimension you kept raving on about?" He looked around just as Ferb did, though his expression wrought with emotion, mostly skepticism. It caught Perry's interest, as this was the second man that he accused of kidnapping Phineas, and yet he didn't seem quite as interested in taking part in Poofenplotz's mad, diabolical scheme.

After surveying his surroundings, Khaka Peü Peü turned to the evil, old woman with his eyes narrowed at her. "You know what, you very, _very_ old crone?"

Professor Poofenplotz's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the name. Now even Ferb had his attention on the older, pessimistic inventor. Was he about to do what Perry thought he was about to do?

"What?" Professor Poofenplotz asked in a low voice, narrowing her eyes in return at the dark-haired man, simply daring him to continue.

"I," he started, looking over at Ferb, Doofenshmirtz, and Perry before focusing his attention back on the old woman, "simply LOVE what you've done with this place." As Khaka Peü Peü grinned ecstatically, Perry felt his cheek hurt from the mental smack he received. "Now there's no one who can have the best day ever! No blue skies, no birds chirping, no sunlight, no children laughing and playing about!" Khaka Peü Peü sighed happily. "This place is perfect!"

Professor Poofenplotz smirked at the happy man. "Good." She flippantly waved her hand for Khaka Peü Peü to follow her. "Come along. We've kept H.A.T.E.C.A.K.E.'s leader waiting long enough."

That was Perry's cue. With all eyes not on him, he flipped his head back and forth, shaking his fedora right off his head. Three strands of hair stuck out on the top of his head, and Perry crossed his eyes like Derpy from the new pony cartoon. Once his mindless look was perfected, he made his signature chirping noise.

"Hey, what the—why is there a normal platypus in the trap that Perry the Platypus was in?" Doofenshmirtz questioned, sounding genuinely surprised at the turn of events. "Has Perry the Platypus escaped and put a normal platypus in its place?"

The look on everyone's face was priceless, and Perry thanked the academy for helping him to perfect his role as a mindless pet. Having a nemesis like Doofenshmirtz really helped him to control his urge to break his façade to show amusement or annoyance too.

Khaka Peü Peü eyed the evil scientist. "You're a special one, aren't you?"

"No, no, no!" Doofenshmirtz shook his head, pointing towards Perry the "Normal" Platypus. "He does this sort of thing all the time! We'll be fighting, or I have him in my latest trap, and when I'm not looking, he'll switch places with a normal platypus!" Professor Poofenplotz and Khaka Peü Peü exchanged looks, not sure whether the creator of L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. was lying or not. "You can tell since normal platypuses (or is it platypi?) don't do much. Just look at that thing! How can that be a secret agent?"

"He's right," Ferb suddenly spoke, catching the adults and Perry's attention. "When Phineas and I lost Perry, we searched through hundreds of platypuses (or platypodes since "platypus" is of Greek origins), and they all looked exactly like Perry. Phineas and I had to devise a way to tell them apart, and I can tell you right now that the platypus in your trap is a darker blue than Perry is."

It was the most wondrous and believable lie that Perry had ever heard from his owner's mouth. Sure, he wasn't proud of the fact that his owner was lying, but he was certainly proud of how quick his owner caught on to Perry's idea. Poor Phineas would have spoken his thoughts aloud before he realized what Perry was trying to do.

"You're lying," Professor Poofenplotz accused, but there was a level of uncertainty in her voice. She kept looking over at Khaka Peü Peü who didn't seem as concerned with the matter as she was. "What do you think, Khaka Peü Peü?"

"I think that you shouldn't say my name with that ridiculous, posh accent of yours," he quipped first before he actually answered her. "Sounds legit to me. Not everything can go our way, ya know?" He sighed for dramatic effect. "This is exactly why no one can ever have the best day ever."

"He is a top secret agent," Doofenshmirtz added in, looking as though he would have to spell out Perry's gig to them. "They are _trained_ to get out of _traps_. Surely you know this from your nemesis."

For once, Doofenshmirtz got Professor Poofenplotz to look thoughtful. "True... Pinky the Chihuahua always escaped my traps..." She walked over to Perry, pulling out the remote control. "Whoever let their platypus roam my Tri-State Area will be rightfully punished. In fact, I'm going to enact a new law that will have all platypuses drowned."

"Uh, okay... You go ahead and do that," Doofenshmirtz said, raising his eyebrow at her. Sure, he had forgotten that Perry was a semi-aquatic animal when he invented his Buoyancy Operated Aquatic Transport, or BO-AT for short, but that was generally not a good day for his nemesis. He hadn't even realized until had to curse Perry that the Metropolitan Oval Aquatic Trench spelt "moat."

And, no, he was not getting into the whole "boat" situation.

Pointing the remote at Perry, the old crone finally committed one action that was in Perry's favor: She pressed the release button. The metal binding that held him in place came apart, and as soon as his webbed feet touched the ground, Perry lunged at Professor Poofenplotz, delivering a deft dropkick to her stomach.

"Whoa!" Doofenshmirtz shouted as Professor Poofenplotz wailed in agony. "Why is that platypus such a good fighter?"

Perry flipped backwards to where his hat was and quickly put it back on. Doofenshmirtz gasped.

"Perry the Platypus!" he exclaimed. "Hey, where did that other butt-kicking platypus go? You're not trying to steal his glory, are you?"

From the ground, Professor Poofenplotz croaked, "Khaka Peü Peü! G-Get him!"

There was a pause where Khaka Peü Peü looked from the downed woman to Perry and to his hostages.

"What are you waiting for!" Professor Poofenplotz demanded to know, achingly pushing herself up with her arms.

Hesitance persisted with the grumpy man, but he finally controlled his Khaka Crawler into action. "Just try to take these hostages from me! The red release button next to the blue buttons is the only way to free them, and there's no way you're getting near it!"

"Don't tell him where the button is!" Professor Poofenplotz shrieked. Perry winced at the shrillness of her voice and somersaulted back over to her, spinning his body so that his tail slapped the side of her head so hard that she momentarily lost consciousness. After shutting her up, Perry headed after Khaka Peü Peü.

The claw that held Ferb in it swung at Perry, acting as a battering ram. Perry simply evaded it, using his nimble figure to dodge around the claw and head straight toward Khaka Peü Peü. The adult inventor's eyes widened as Perry landed right on top of the Khaka Crawler's controls, and he didn't even make a move to stop Perry as he jammed his foot down on the red release button.

"Oomph!" Doofenshmirtz groaned as his abused body dropped to the unforgiving ground. "Oh, how I hate gravity..."

Ferb landed on the ground with more grace, hitting the bottom with both feet and a slight bend of the knees to absorbed the impact. Perry wasted no time in jumping beside his owner, grabbing Ferb's hand to lead him away from harm. Doofenshmirtz immediately caught sight of this and stumbled after them, yelling at Perry to wait up.

Oddly, Khaka Peü Peü did not make a move to stop them or even follow them. Perry looked over his shoulders, watching as the man heeded them no attention as he sat in the Khaka Crawler, waiting for Professor Poofenplotz to get up.

* * *

><p>"Alright, we are just over the Quad-State Area," Gretchen reported from her station in the head of the robot. Isabella nodded, going on the main speaker.<p>

"Everyone! We are nearing our destination!" she shouted into the intercom, unable to contain the excitement in her voice. They were finally going to be able to see Phineas after so many dead ends! "Prepare for battle, but do not fire until the signal is given! I repeat: Do NOT attack until the signal is given!"

"Why do I feel as though that was directed at me?" Buford sneered from his position in the right arm.

"Because it probably was," Baljeet offered, causing Ginger to giggle for a second before screaming in terror with Baljeet as Buford smashed the robot fist into their leg.

"Oops. Sorry. My fist slipped."

Candace took over the intercom. "Hey! Save that for the battlefield!" She exchanged an exasperated look with Isabella before making a second announcement. "We need to work as a team, so no busting one another up, okay?"

"Tell Buford that!"

"My fist slipped! Honest!"

CLANG!

"BUFORD!"

"Oops. Slipped again."

Candace rubbed her temples, not even bothering to yell at them through the intercom. Honestly, Phineas and Ferb must have the patience of saints to put up with those two on a daily basis. Of course, neither of her brothers was usually on a serious mission to rescue someone. Working together to construct "summer fun" was a lot different from working together for a crucial matter. That was where Candace was finally able to take over as leader.

"M'lady," Albert's voice broke Candace from her thoughts. "We have reached the destination, but..."

Irving, who was by Albert's side, took a look at the screen and slowly shook his head before hiding his face in his hands. "Oh no..."

"What?" Panic steadily rose inside Candace as she made her way over to their screen. Her nerves caused her to jump when Isabella suddenly latched onto her arm, wearing the same scared expression as she wore as they made their way over.

The screen showed an empty, rocky crater in the middle of the desert. There were no signs of life anywhere.

"M-Maybe it's underground," Candace stuttered. "We didn't use all those carrots for nothing—check with the x-ray vision."

"That's what I figured," Albert told her, inputting information into the pad to switch over to the x-ray vision. The screen changed to show dirt and rocks underneath the crater.

Dirt and rocks.

Dirt...and...rocks...

"Candace?" Jeremy's voice spoke over the intercom. "We've stopped, so are we ready to save Phineas and Ferb? Candace? What's going on up there?"

Candace had never been known for her strong mental fortitude. Everything seemed to be crashing down on her at once, and she wanted nothing more than to scream and rip her hair out until she was too tired to go on. Trembling, her lips parted—

"_H-Hello? Is, uh, Candace of the Flynn-Fletcher family there?"_

* * *

><p>Letting the children go off on their own was not what Pinky had planned to do after they finished building the robot. He had planned on sticking to Isabella's side like glue until this whole ordeal blew over, and even then he would keep an eye on her until he felt it was safe to let his owner go off on her own.<p>

Nothing would stop Pinky from being a protective, loyal dog first over being a secret agent. Or at least that was what he thought.

Peter the Panda looked over the glossy magazine once more. There was no mistaking that it was from the second dimension with the eye-patched Doctor Doofenshmirtz hogging the cover and content, but that wasn't what had the two puzzled.

While they were building the robot, Isabella showed Pinky and Peter the magazine they had found that belonged to the kidnapper. Horror seeped through Pinky and Peter when they realized that the magazine was from the second dimension, and it confirmed the worst of their fears. Pinky had warned Agent Perry that the material that was made to build the second dimension robots and the tripod were the same, but he had hoped for an alternative explanation as to why and how there was a connection.

Baljeet quickly showed them the exact location of the address on their side of the dimension, and Pinky didn't know what to make of it at first. The Quad-State Area had never been buzzing with evil villains or evil activity in general since Agent Perry and his nemesis defeated the last evil uprising there. It also didn't make sense that the address contained the last location of said evil uprising.

Without another word (not that either Peter nor he spoke), Peter headed over to Pinky's computer. They had purposely blocked connections with Admiral Acronym, so the only way she would be able to contact either of them would be in person. This way they were able to operate without her approval or knowledge, which was quite necessary for all three of them with what Peter was doing right now.

Hacking into O.W.C.A.'s prison mainframe, Peter searched through the list of the most vile and despicable evildoers on the planet that secret agents from around the globe refused to be nemeses with. Peter and he had been fortunate as agents to never experience a particularly heinous enemy, but they both knew that Agent Perry had, and there was definitely a lot of potential for revenge-seeking behaviors, including kidnapping Perry's owners.

This was the reason that Pinky and Peter quickly bid the children adieu, needing to check this factor over for Agent Perry's sake.

He had also been ninety-percent certain that the children would not be confronting any of the kidnappers at the place they were headed.

A profile appeared on the screen along with current footage of a bald man with green tights who was locked behind bars. Yes, the children were definitely not confronting the Regurgitator any time soon, but that only pertained to this dimension.

Grave looks were shared between Pinky and Peter as they realized whom the true culprit was behind the kidnappings.

The Regurgitator of the second dimension.

Peter shut the forced connection off with the prison, drooping his shoulders. As emotionless as the panda was, even he realized the conflicting situation that they were in. The Regurgitator from this dimension had nearly succeeded in not only defeating Agent Perry, but killing him as well. If it hadn't been for his poor judgment with having a jealous Doctor Doofenshmirtz as his intern, the deranged man would have easily conquered the world. He would have been unstoppable.

In the second dimension, Doctor Doofenshmirtz had been locked up with his toy train. As far as they knew, that Doofenshmirtz would not be foiling any plots of the Regurgitator. Also, if that dimension's Regurgitator really kidnapped Phineas and Ferb, then there had to be a lot of precautions that the bald man took in order to avoid a fate similar to this dimension's Regurgitator.

What made this even more complicated for them was that only the Agency knew about the second dimension. They may be secret agents, but the attack of the second dimension's robots had proven how ill prepared the agents, alone, were for those villains. Since Peter and he were the only agents that were fully aware of the circumstances, too, then that put the odds against them even more.

Even though Pinky didn't want to involve Isabella, the robot they had created was their only strong defense that could be used in the second dimension. How would they explain the situation to a bunch of children who had their past memories of the second dimension erased? It'd be pointless.

As Pinky's ears drooped lower and lower, Peter walked over to Pinky's main screen and turned it on. Pinky figured that the panda was going to give up the secrecy from Admiral Acronym, so he was certainly surprised when the transfer agent got Carl the Intern on the screen.

* * *

><p>Major Monogram hadn't performed field agent activities on his own since before Carl was hired as an unpaid intern, and this only served to worry the young intern as he kept a watch on the monitors for any sort of clue or tip that he could continue to provide his boss. Since the phone call the police received about Doofenshmirtz being a possible subject, the transmissions had ceased and nothing more had been spoken about the case. Of course, he did hear that word had gotten around to the old, reunited musical group, Love Händel, and that they had sponsored search teams to look across the Tri-State Area and beyond to look for Agent P's owners. Apparently, Phineas and Ferb had a hand in reuniting the band, so they would go to extreme lengths to return the favor by reuniting them with their family.<p>

Carl slouched in his chair. The kidnapping was receiving a good amount of media attention, but he was worried that someone was going to stick their nose in too far and discover O.W.C.A.'s existence. A chill shot down Carl's spine as the scene played out in his mind. He really hoped that Major Monogram would be able to sort everything out.

ALERT: INCOMING TRANSMISSION

Tired green eyes stared in confusion at the screen as the words bleared across it. His fingers automatically pressed some keys, accepting the transmission.

Peter the Panda and Agent Pinky of Admiral Acronym's division appeared on the screen.

"Peter! Agent Pinky!" Carl gasped, leaning closer to the screen. "Admiral Acronym has been trying to contact you two! What has happened? Is Agent P with you? What information do you guys have?"

It finally dawned on Carl that the animals would never be able to give him a proper response, so he purposefully stopped the ambush of questions on the two operatives. He sat back in his chair, giving them both a pleading look.

Peter the Panda grabbed something and held it up to the screen. It took a moment for Carl to catch on, and he zoomed his camera in on the object that Peter was holding. Right away he could tell that it was a magazine, but the photo...

"Is that Dr. Doofenshmirtz from the second dimension?" he asked, uploading the image onto his screen to save for future viewing.

Peter nodded, pointing to a small label that was also on the magazine. Carl zoomed in closer on that, reading what appeared to be a mailing address. His automatic response was to type the address into the database to see what came up, but he realized that their database did not share the second dimension's database. He realized something even more important, though.

"Wait, are you telling me that the kidnapper is from the second dimension?" Carl questioned, watching as Peter the Panda and Agent Pinky nodded on the screen. If there was one thing Carl was good at, it was at piecing information together fairly quickly. He just needed the right context. "How will we find out who the kidnapper is, then? I can't look the address up..."

Agent Pinky came up to the screen, using his tiny paws to enter in text to the screen. Carl's eyebrows furrowed in even more confusion as an all-too-familiar address appeared on the screen. "You guys already figured out what the address is? But that one belongs to the Regurgitator..."

Peter the Panda and Agent Pinky stared at him, not providing any more information. Carl looked at the magazine picture he had uploaded and again at the address provided.

"Oh... Oh. Oh!" Horror defined Carl's realization. "The Regurgitator of the second dimension is the kidnapper! Does Agent P know?"

Peter the Panda shrugged his shoulders and Agent Pinky sadly shook his head.

"This isn't good," Carl moaned, grabbing his curly read hair as he tried to calm his racing thoughts down. "I have to let Major Monogram know about this, but I don't know what good that will do..." He bowed his head. "There's no way that we can access the second dimension. It was the one inator of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's that we refused to recreate due to the danger it caused."

"Bark!" Carl jumped when Agent Pinky's high-pitched bark echoed through the lab. His attention immediately went on the little dog, and he watched as the Chihuahua plugged his intel-watch into the port of the monitor and uploaded a picture. At first the picture was very pixelated, but as it cleaned itself up, Carl realized that the picture was of a giant robot and a few of the missing neighborhood children.

"That's..." Carl trailed off, examining the photo closer. "That's at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated! So they are there!" He tilted his head in thought. "And they built a robot? What for—oh! They built a robot to save Phineas, right? Well, Major Monogram can sort it out when he gets there."

Agent Pinky barked again, causing Carl to look at the two animal agents who were rapidly shaking their head. Okay, so there was obviously something that Carl was missing, but what?

Carl didn't have to wonder for long as Agent Pinky uploaded an access code that would allow Carl to communicate with whomever the access code belonged to. There was no need for Agent Pinky or Peter the Panda to urge Carl to make a connection with the owner of the access code.

* * *

><p>Candace froze, looking around the small compartment of the head in order to pinpoint where the disembodied, nasally voice was coming from. Gretchen, who was standing next to Isabella, turned towards her station, noticing that there was a strange glow coming from her monitor. She looked at Candace, who was still looking rather shaky and pale, but the older girl forced herself over to Gretchen's monitor.<p>

On the screen was a red, curly-haired guy with purple glasses. A strange sense of dèjá vu overwhelmed Candace, and she seriously considered the nagging thought that she had seen this person before, but she put it in the back of her mind.

"_Oh, good!"_ the nerdy-looking guy spoke as Candace came into view. _"I was hoping Agent Pinky and Peter the Panda gave me your guys' access code."_

Isabella blinked her large, blue eyes as she approached the screen, standing next to Candace as she got a look at the person speaking. Her jaw dropped. "Carl?"

"You know him?" Candace asked her, now feeling as though she should really know this nerd too.

"Yeah, we spent a day together building an anti-gravity machine before Carl's dad brought him home for supper."

"_Hello, Isabella!"_ Carl greeted, laughing nervously from the memory of his first mission as a field agent. _"I'll explain more later, but first I have to...make a decision."_ A worried and conflicted look took Carl's nervous one, and he looked down at something no on the monitor. _"It'll be really hard talking to you guys unless you're in the know all, but I'm not exactly authorized to do this..."_

"Are you going to help us find Phineas and Ferb?" Candace immediately asked, looking desperate. This guy was really her last hope before she had the biggest breakdown of her life.

"_Yes,"_ Carl wholeheartedly agreed without hesitation. _"Can you guys hold on a second?"_

Isabella and Candace nodded, watching as Carl disappeared off screen. They held their breaths until he returned, holding some odd pen-like device in his hand.

"_This is something we created after we used the amnesia-inator on you guys."_

"Amnesia-inator? Wouldn't we remember you using..." Candace's face grew red as she realized what she was about to say. "Ah, never mind. Go on."

"_Yes, well, it's a 'remember-er-inator.'"_ Carl struggled over the term. _"It's, uh, relatively new, and I was told to never use it unless the circumstances are severe enough, and even then I'm supposed to have my boss with me, but since you all know about O.W.C.A. and the magazine, then you might as well know this too."_

He pressed down on the pen-like device, creating a flash that raced through the circuits of the robot, affecting all of its occupants. Candace stumbled backwards as her mind seemed to rush with thoughts and voices and images. It must have lasted for only a second, and the robot gave a jolt.

Silence reigned over the robot, and Candace slowly blinked.

She remembered.

She remembered everything.

And she had to upgrade her wardrobe to that black outfit her counterpart wore.

A high-pitched scream caused Candace and all the other occupants in the head to whip their head over towards Isabella, who was extremely red in the face. She didn't look at any of them, but instead stared wide-eyed at her hands.

"Uh, Chief?" Gretchen tentatively asked, moving towards her Fireside leader. "Are you alright?"

In shock, Isabella numbly whispered the words: "I did it... I kissed Phineas."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Thank you all for the support! I'm surprised at the number of people still reading this story. You guys really make my day. :)<p> 


	15. New Dimensions to the Case

Author's Note: I had a lot of problems uploading this chapter. Hopefully the format is okay now. Please let me know if something is wrong.

Thank you for all of your support with this story! For your patience, I'm leaving a small surprise at the end of the chapter. ;)

* * *

><p>Chapter Fifteen: New Dimensions to the Case<p>

There were a handful of times that Charlene found herself sitting down at her small, oval kitchen table with Vanessa looming over her with the perfect representation of her ex-husband's scowl, and each and every time Charlene would calmly explain to the imaginative teenager that her ex-husband was not evil. The accusations had become part of their routine whenever Vanessa was left alone with her ex-husband, and Charlene had begun to suspect that this was her daughter's way of "acting out" and dealing with the divorce. Her daughter was tough when it came to handling difficult situations, but she seemed to be much like her ex-husband when it came to being rational.

This time, though, Charlene was sitting down in a cheap, black metal chair at a cold, gray, rectangular table and confined in a small, dimly lit space that was a far cry from her bright and comfortable kitchen. Instead of her daughter sitting across from her, a detective with broad shoulders and a thick beard took her place, throwing questions after question at her until the questions had turned into accusation after accusation.

Over and over again, Charlene affirmed and reaffirmed that her ex-husband was not the evil menace that they were trying to make him out to be. Their divorce had nothing to do with him being evil; they had just wanted different things in life. Yes, he was a wonderful father who loved his child more than anything. No, he had never done anything explicably criminal, except for the treatment he gave his pet platypus one time. He was also horrible with money, but that wasn't particularly criminal.

"He locks his pet platypus in a small cage and is in need of money?" the detective repeated, raising a skeptical eyebrow at her. Charlene had opted out of asking for a lawyer, knowing that there had to be some type of mistake here. She just needed to sort things out.

By the sounds of things, she wasn't doing an incredibly good job at it.

"Look." Her voice was heavy and tired. She had been roaming the Tri-State Area, recruiting searchers, and making dozens of phone calls since Linda had called her in the morning. It felt as though days had gone by instead of mere hours. "My ex-husband is with our daughter. If he isn't picking up his phone, then he certainly will." She snatched the pen and paper that they had placed in front f her and wrote down Vanessa's cell phone number. "Here, call her."

The detective grunted, looking over the number on the paper. Charlene couldn't help but notice how weary the man across from her seemed, and she couldn't help but wonder if he, too, had been doing as much as her since this morning.

Without a word, he stuck out his hand towards the two-way mirror, beckoning someone from the darker room to enter the interrogation room. A few seconds later, a police officer entered, bending down for the detective to quietly whisper instructions as he handed the police officer the paper. As the police officer exited the room once more, the detective turned his attention back to Charlene.

"I'm sorry to ask you this again, ma'am," the detective said, sounding more tired than apologetic, "but what is your ex-husband's profession again?"

Charlene dreaded this question. At most social events, the subject would eventually be brought up about what her ex-husband does as a career, and she always had to answer the same way: "He's out of work. I think he's trying to be an inventor, but I really think he should just stick to the arts."

"So, he doesn't work?" That was all anyone ever got out of her explanation. It didn't matter that her ex-husband was a very creative and artistic man; it just mattered that he hardly brought home a paycheck and had to mooch off his ex-wife.

"I'm getting tired of repeating myself."

Fortunately, Charlene didn't have to repeat herself again as the policeman reentered the interrogation room. A long, overdue breath started to work its way out of the distraught woman, but before Charlene could exhale, the policeman delivered his news.

"We cannot contact Vanessa Doofenshmirtz."

Worry edged its way into a large lump in Charlene's throat that she could not swallow back down. "Vanessa always answer her cell!" she proclaimed aloud, hastily grabbing her own cell phone from her pocket. She pressed the first speed dial option and held the cell to her ear. "Maybe she's not answering because she didn't recognize the number."

It was a lame excuse, as Charlene was positive that her daughter would recognize the number for the Danville Police Station, but she also realized that her daughter was a teenager. Any teenager would be reluctant to answer calls from the police.

"Please put your call on speaker." Charlene didn't need to be told twice as her cell started calling Vanessa's number. She place her cell on the table, pressing the speaker option on it so that they could all listen to her daughter explain the situation on the phone.

_Ring... Ring... Ring..._

Charlene's nervous eyes looked up at the police officer and the detective before resuming their position on the phone. She kept looking back and forth between the two as the cell simply produced the sound of Vanessa's phone ringing.

_Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring..._

"_Hello,"_ an automated, female voice finally answered. _"You have reached the automated voice messaging system of ... Vanessa... Who is not available to answer your call—"_

Charlene hung up the line, quickly redialing her daughter's number. "This is weird. _(Ring...) _She usually always answers her cell. _(Ring...) _That was the agreement we had when I got her the phone. _(Ring...)_ Maybe she's using the bathroom _(Ring...)_ or she's in the shower. _(Ring...) _Heinz may even have her not _(Ring...)_ answer her phone during dinner. _(Ring...) _He's old-fashioned like that with his family values _(Ring...)_ sometimes."

"_Hello, you have reached the automated voice messaging system of—"_

Hanging the call up again, Charlene was about to press the "redial" button when she caught the detective shaking his head at her.

"Ms. Doofenshmirtz," he began, "I'm afraid that we can't wait any longer. We need to send someone down there now. Your daughter's life could very well be in danger."

A horrible, blood-freezing sensation took over her body as she experienced the same feelings that Linda had when discovering that her son was missing. Heinz couldn't... He wouldn't...

The door burst open. "Charlene, please do not say anything more."

"Who are you?" the detective immediately inquired, but he seemed to retract his question as another man entered through the doorway.

"I am representing both Charlene and Roger Doofenshmirtz in this investigation. My name is Justin. Justin Doofenshmirtz."

* * *

><p>Not having a cell phone made calling the police a bit more difficult for Django. He had already tried interrupting his father's meeting, but when he told the secretary just what he had seen and needed to report, she told him to stop watching so much television. Embarrassed and frustrated, Django tried to dramatically burst through the meeting doors, but the building's security made sure that this was not accomplished either.<p>

"C'mon, c'mon," he muttered under his breath as a skinny man with an enormous mustache and a large, weird hairstyle continued talking on the public phone. It was the only one within the mile that he could use, so he had to wait out the chatty man's time.

"—yes, yes. I heard about it. I don't know why he would be behind it, though. It doesn't seem like something he would be a part of."

If this was a cartoon, a vein would be visibly pulsating through Django's forehead and steam would be coming out of his ears. This was real life, however, and there was nothing but desperation in a boy's eyes. That robot had to be a part of this! What if Phineas and Ferb were inside that thing! They could be in real trouble right now!

"Excuse me," Django finally spoke up, tugging on the extremely tall man's long, white coat to catch his attention. He must have been a pharmacist.

The man purposely ignored him, shifting his slim body so that his coat tugged out of Django's grip.

"Hey! I need to make an emergency phone call to the police!"

This succeeded in getting the man to pay attention to Django. He turned, staring suspiciously at Django's small form as he held his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. "For what?"

The words "none of your business" were on the tip of Django's tongue, but he refrained from verbally using them. "I have information to give the police on the kids who went missing!"

All of the skepticism in the man's expression vanished after Django's words sunk in. He didn't even say goodbye to the person he was talking to as he hung up the phone. "What do you know?"

The strange man hadn't moved from his spot in front of the phone, forcing Django to tell the man what he had seen. "A large robot just flew overhead, and it was heading towards the desert! I'm friends with the kids that went missing in Danville, and I know that they're capable of creating that!"

Unlike Django, Phineas and Ferb were masters at creating large works. They had helped him to create an enormous replica of his art on the Unpainted Desert, though it ended up mysteriously disappearing just as the majority of their inventions do. A robot of that size seemed right up their alley.

"This better not be a joke," the strange man finally quipped, stepping away from the phone booth. "You said they were heading towards the desert, right?"

"Yeah, but—hey! Where are you..." Django trailed off when he realized that the man wasn't going to stop running in order to answer him. He stared after him for a few more seconds before he realized that the phone was free.

Since Django was making an emergency call, he didn't have to insert any coins before he dialed nine-one-one. It didn't hit him until the phone started to ring on the other line that he was calling the police—something he had always been trained to do as a child, but never actually expected to put into use. His hands trembled as the phone rang again, and his mind almost drew a blank as an authoritative, female voice answered the call.

"Uh, yes, I, uh, have some important information for the police... It's about the missing kids."

Django could only hope that the police believed him.

* * *

><p>There was so much to remember about that fateful day that it felt as if they had forgotten a lifetime. Isabella's outburst had been the one of the minor issues that needed to be addressed, even if Candace, as a fellow girl, didn't want to diminish the importance of that issue.<p>

"What just happened?"

Vanessa's sincerely confused tone sounded over the intercom. At first, Candace wanted to sarcastically retort that they had obviously gotten their memories of the day the second dimension was discovered, but then she remembered another vital fact: Vanessa hadn't been with them during their fight against the Normbots.

"Were you in Danville when the huge disaster happened? When the buildings and cars were suddenly broken and smashed? It looked like a tornado hit the place, or an earthquake, or something." Candace tried to picture the brunette during their fight with the Normbots, but she couldn't even picture the girl as one of the civilians that simply ran away from the scene.

"No. I left my dad's place that morning to go to my mom's," she responded. "...I missed something important, didn't I?"

"Yes," a few voices chorused over the intercom.

"And it involved my dad, didn't it?"

"Yes."

"Don't tell me... Did one of his evil schemes actually work?"

"Hey," Jeremy suddenly spoke up. "Your dad was the guy that I gave guitar lessons to once. He mentioned some crazy thing about aliens back then... Was he being serious?"

"I'm kind of understanding why you have blond hair."

"Hey!" Candace snapped, jumping to her boyfriend's defense. "Look, your dad made some second dimension machine that allowed his evil counterpart to come to our dimension and take over Danville."

"Ugh. Normal girls would be _surprised_ at this, but here I am not even wondering how he did it."

"Candace," Isabella's meek voice caused the older girl to look over at her. The normally high-spirited Fireside Girl was looking pale.

"What's wrong?" Candace immediately blurted out, making sure that her finger was off the intercom button.

Isabella's lower lip quivered, but she somehow found the strength to suck up her nerves as she solemnly whispered, "You don't think... You don't think Phineas is in the second dimension with that guy, do you?"

That guy. That guy with the scar across his eye patch. That guy that tried to force her little brothers to build them the second dimensionator. That guy that tried to feed them to that monster. That guy that sent killer robots after them.

That guy that would have killed Phineas, Ferb, and Perry if it hadn't been for a stupid backstory being resolved.

Suddenly, Candace was looking a tad pallid herself.

"_That's exactly what we're afraid of,"_ Carl said, bringing the attention back to him. _"We've gathered evidence that has lead us to believe that the second dimension is involved with Phineas' abduction, and from what our agents have uncovered, our main suspect is known as The Regurgitator." _At the look of the kids in the cockpit, Carl coughed. _"Yes, well, in our dimension he was a fearsome villain that was taken down by Agent P and Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and he's still in our high-security prison."_ Though Carl tried to appear stoic, his worried and fearful expression crept through as he continued his announcement. _"It's believed that the Regurgitator from the second dimension is the one who is behind this."_

"What would he want with Phineas and Ferb?" Irvine asked the question that everyone was thinking. Unlike Candace, though, he and his older brother seemed to be sharing equally horror-stricken looks. Whatever optimism they had given Irvine earlier had gone right out the window.

"_That, we do not know, but we're going to find out soon."_

"Oh, yeah? How? We're not in the second dimension, nasal-breath," Buford snapped over the intercom. His normal, gruff tone helped to calm Candace's screaming nerves, and she calmed down even more as Baljeet resumed his usual banter with his bully.

"Well, duh," Baljeet answered back, defending Carl. "But you forget that Phineas and Ferb told us that _I_ built one in the second dimension. I can build another one if I just get the right tools."

"_There isn't a large enough power grid for that."_

"Okay, then what do you expect us to do?" Vanessa sounded exasperated over the intercom. "We didn't build a giant robot just to look cool."

"_Actually, I expect you guys to follow the coordinates that I'm uploading to your navigational system."_

Just as Carl finished speaking, a small blip on their navigational pad alerted the group that the coordinates had been uploaded. All of the people in the head walked over to it in order to check out the new destination.

"That's seems kinda far," Gretchen murmurs. "We're fast, but it'll definitely be night by the time we get there."

"Where are we going?" Candace asked, not even bothering to turn to look at Carl.

"_You guys are going to the location of the only other dimensionator in existence."_

Albert frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, obviously not trusting someone else to have the intelligence and, in Candace's opinion, nerdiness to build something so hi-tech. "Who?"

"_Professor Poofenplotz."_

"..."

"Uh, good to know you're not alone there, Vanessa."

"Shut up, Johnson."

* * *

><p>Carl didn't respond to their reaction, instead focusing on getting back into contact with Admiral Acronym. Unlike Major Monogram, Carl liked to keep in touch with all the departments in the Agency, and this included keeping an eye on the evil inventions that the scientists created.<p>

Back when the second dimensionator had been created, Carl remembered feeling a sense of dèjá vu. He had waited until the entire situation had blown over in order to look through the weapons database. Surprisingly, Professor Poofenplotz had created a handheld ray gun that sent people to another dimension. It had taken O.W.C.A. forever to get the minimum-wage grocery clerk back to their dimension, but the incident had never received much attention.

Unfortunately, O.W.C.A. never apprehended the device. Professor Poofenplotz had chosen a different creation to use that day, and that was the one that Pinky had gotten the blueprints for, which wasn't really the agent's fault. At the very least he had been able to provide knowledge of the device's existence, which led to them saving the minimum-wage grocery clerk.

Admiral Acronym's face finally appeared on the screen, and though Carl had not said or outwardly expressed any emotion, she seemed prepared to receive bad news. Putting on his professional face, Carl began to fill her in on the situation.

"I have been in contact with Agent Pinky and Agent Peter the Panda of your sector." Raised eyebrows from the Admiral expressed her surprise at this, but she allowed him to finish up speaking before asking questions. "They've discovered the real suspect behind the kidnapping: The Regurgitator of the second dimension."

With wide eyes, Admiral Acronym backed a bit away from the screen, visibly shaken. "The Regurgitator? From the second dimension? The same felon Agent P of your sector had difficulty taking down? From the second dimension?"

"Yes," Carl cut in before she could get in another question. "The children discovered the magazine used to make the note, and the address matches The Regurgitator's of our dimension, but it's encoded in the other dimension's locations during the second dimension Dr. Doofenshmirtz's reign."

"Back up," Admiral Acronym ordered, already over her initial shock. "The children discovered the magazine? Do you have contact with them?"

"Yes, they've built some sort of combative robot and are heading towards Professor Poofenplotz's residence."

"What."

"They should be there by nightfall. I'll fill them in on the next course of action when they reach her residence."

"CARL!"

Carl bit his lower lip, mentally preparing himself to look at the woman's face. When he looked up at the screen, he was graced by the most fear-inducing look of outrage that he had ever seen in his life. Admiral Acronym was practically beaming red as her nostrils flared with every short breath she took.

"I did not just hear a lowly, unpaid intern tell me that he sent a bunch of children over to an evil scientist's lair—a bunch of children that have been reported missing and possibly kidnapped!"

"Phineas and Ferb's older sister has fought in the second dimension before, and the other kids participated in the fight against the Normbots, so they had the advantage—"

"There is no advantage! If you would be so kind as to remember, you zapped them with the amnesia-nator!" Even through the screen Admiral Acronym could spot Carl's fearful look. Her eyes widened considerably once more. "You didn't... Tell me that you didn't!"

"I didn't...do it without thinking," Carl tentatively responded. "Our animal agents can't all go to the second dimension, and Agent Pinky, Agent Peter the Panda, and, of course, Agent P will be with them."

"O.W.C.A. is not going to be held responsible for involving and endangering children! And it was not your call to make!" Breathing deeply, Admiral Acronym regained her composure, staring at Carl gravely. "Until further notice, on behalf of O.W.C.A., you are hereby suspended from your position."

Though it was still a slap in the face, Carl hadn't expected anything less from a superior of O.W.C.A. Major Monogram may have tried to cover up Carl's faults and take responsibility for them, but in this situation, he would have had Carl suspended too.

Still, this wasn't a matter that he could hide from the agency. He wouldn't be able to be a member of O.W.C.A. if he kept this to himself.

"We'll handle the rest from here," Admiral Acronym continued before the screen cancelled out. "Over and out."

For a moment, Carl just stared at the blank screen, thinking over what he had just done and what he was going to do. Soft beeps from the computers and machines filled the room as the graveness of his decision weighed in. There were so many things that could go wrong, and now he was not going to have a safety net to fall back on. Major Monogram wouldn't be back in time to help Carl with the next step.

He wasn't alone, though. He still had Agent Pinky, Peter the Panda, and Agent P who were all willing to stay under his command. Agent Pinky wouldn't have contacted him if the tiny Chihuahua hadn't trusted him with his owner's safety, and Peter the Panda, who was all about the job, would never have helped Agent Pinky if he didn't have confidence in Carl's abilities.

Speaking of the two, Carl started a new transmission with them. "Agent Pinky, head over to Professor Poofenplotz's lair to meet with Isabella and the others. We're heading to the second dimension."

* * *

><p>It felt strange being in the penthouse without any sign of Agent P or Dr. Doofenshmirtz. For one, it was completely silent without any of the loud, nasally rambling of the building's owner. The only thing that seemed relatively ordinary about the place was that it was a partially destroyed mess. Magazines littered the tiled floor along with debris from the destroyed balcony area. It certainly looked like a battle between Agent P and Dr. Doofenshmirtz waged in here just moments ago.<p>

Night had nearly fallen, and the cool air was especially drafty in the apartment due to the gaping hole. Magazine pages flapped from the breeze, making the quiet penthouse sound even more abandoned.

"There are no children here." Once again, they were given a dead lead. As calm as Major Monogram tried to appear, he was getting frustrated. His best agent was missing, and the lives of children were at stake! By the time they get a real lead, it will be because they already exhausted all the other ones!

A heavy sigh escaped Major Monogram as he realized that he would have to go back to Carl, who was probably waiting on toes for him, to deliver more disappointing news. He drooped his shoulders, preparing to head out of the now-dark apartment.

"HYAH!"

The feeling of a boot connecting with the back of his head was the last thing he could remember.

* * *

><p>Perry refused to let go of Ferb's hand as they made their way through what appeared to be a second dictatorship of Danville. Nighttime had crept upon them quickly, and though the darkness provided an easy cover for them, it also provided an advantage to their enemies that knew the layout of this dimension. If they stopped, they would be cornered, and if they kept going, they would eventually be spotted. The only option they had was to keep going and hope that they stumbled upon the headquarters of the Resistance, if there was one still around.<p>

Ferb's weight suddenly shifted, and Perry tightened his grip on his hand as Ferb feel to the hard ground. Peering through the darkness, Perry could see that his nemesis had toppled over right onto Ferb.

"Ugh, sorry," Doofenshmirtz grunted out, gingerly picking himself off of Ferb. "I think I lost a kidney or two back there."

"That could be problematic," Ferb quipped, allowing Perry to heave him back to his feet. They still held hands, and just from this fact Perry could tell that his owner was terrified of his surroundings and the prospect that Phineas was alone in them. Even at night there seemed to be a reddish smog that coated the land, giving the place quite the hellish appearance.

Realizing that they had stopped, which Perry had internally warned himself against doing, he slowly started to lead the way again. He was worried over his nemesis' condition, but if he really required medical attention, then they all needed to keep moving. If only there was a car that Doofenshmirtz could hotwire for them, though that would cause a lot more attention then three characters lurking through the back roads and shadows.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Doofenshmirtz huffed, trying to keep his voice low while still sounding coherent. Neither Ferb nor Perry answered him; Ferb had no idea where his pet was leading them, and Perry was a platypus. He could not speak.

Shoe soles scraping against the concrete wall caught Perry's attention, and he forcibly stopped the two humans behind him. When the sound didn't cease, he looked around the narrow road they had turned down, spotting some trashcans sitting in an alleyway. It wasn't the best of options, but the exterior would completely hide their forms and the smell would deter people from checking there as long as none of them jostled the garbage cans.

This time, Perry jerked Ferb forward, ushering the boy off towards the trashcans. Being the brilliant boy that Ferb is, he quickly got the hint and ran for cover. Being the oblivious, evil scientist that Doofenshmirtz is, Perry grabbed the sleeve of his white lab coat and dragged him off to the hiding place.

They waited with bated breaths as a shadowed figure appeared at the top of the concrete wall. The figure was rather small, but Perry didn't count out the danger the person or animal could represent. He watched with narrowed eyes as the figure dropped to the ground below, landing on the ground with a soft thud. For some reason, though, the drop seemed to take a lot out of the figure as he leaned against the concrete wall, visibly shaking as he seemed to be trying to catch his breath.

Shuffling from beside him caused Perry to look away from the figure to see that his owner was cautiously exiting the hiding spot and walking towards the shadowy figure.

Perry's heart skipped a beat as he lunged at Ferb, quickly grabbing the boy's arm to try to drag him back to the hiding spot. This action was enough to catch the figure's attention.

"Huh... Ferb? Perry?"

Time seemed to stop as the figure approached them; his infamous triangular-shaped head more apparent and scared, tired, and relieved blue eyes stared at the two of them. Perry felt numb, unable to even process who was standing in front of them.

"Phineas..." Ferb whispered, trying to bring them both out of the shock. His voice cracked as he repeated his brother's name, and despite the fact that they were trying to maintain cover, he screamed: "PHINEAS!" and rushed to embrace him.


	16. An Alternate Explanation

Disclaimer: Justin Doofenshmirtz is not an OC. He is mentioned in one of the Christmas Specials, but he has not made an appearance. His characterization is based on my own interpretation.

* * *

><p>Chapter Sixteen: An Alternate Explanation<p>

Roger Doofenshmirtz hardly reminisced on his past in Gimmelshtump. He had a great childhood, and he was proud to be the man he was today. There was no reason to dwell on the past, except in those instances when his older brother intruded on his life, and especially when these instances involved his older brother's weird antics.

As children, Roger could not recall his older brother smiling very often, if at all. He could remember that narrowed gaze and infallible scowl that always graced Heinz's face. It was the same resentment that Heinz continued to hold towards him; a petty feeling of jealousy that was pushed by the most minor of details, and if there was anything Heinz bested him at, it was holding grudges.

When Heinz met Charlene, Roger was shocked, to say the very least. His eccentric, older brother had finally found someone who could and would deal with his crazy antics. Roger could not have been happier, but then Vanessa was born, and he found that he could. For the first time, Roger was proud to be related to Heinz.

Then, when things mellowed down, the divorce happened. It was a slap back to reality, and Heinz was incredibly lucky that Charlene had more tact in handling the situation, especially since Vanessa was involved. Whatever hobby Heinz had, including that "wannabe-evil" career, took up a lot of his time, so he had not fought for more time with Vanessa, and Roger secretly thought that this was what kept his niece as such a low-key, well-behaved child.

And now this levelheaded child was missing.

Roger sighed, putting his head in his hands for the tenth time since the police had contacted him. He had heard of the missing children long before, yes, and he had been a part of the search party. Not once did he think of his older brother as having a hand in this twisted scheme. There was no reason to even suspect that he might. Heinz just was not the type to keep quiet about serious situations, and he never had set out on a crusade against children.

He would never willingly put the life of his own daughter in danger.

"Roger," Charlene murmured, hugging herself. The mayor of Danville stiffened his upper lip and straightened his shoulders back, clearing his throat of the lump that kept forming in it.

"Charlene," he calmly addressed before motioning to the well-suited man sitting across from them in the dark limousine. "This is my uncle, Justin Doofenshmirtz."

Giving his ex-sister-in-law a crooked smile, Justin reached forward and grabbed Charlene's hand, proceeding to give her a firm, enthusiastic handshake. "Pleasure to meet ya!"

Narrowing her eyes, similar to the skeptical look her ex-husband gave people who Roger introduced him to, Charlene quickly returned the handshake and nearly yanked her hand away from him. "Under these circumstances?"

He shrugged. "I've had worse first introductions. Just be thankful that we're all on the same side."

Roger and Charlene shared a quick, troubling look that went unnoticed by the third occupant. His ex-sister-in-law cleared her throat. "Yes, well, do you know my ex-husband?"

"Littly Whinzy-Heinzy? Yeah. We keep in contact with each other. I'm guessin' he has got himself into quite the pickle here."

Roger frowned. The aloof tone his uncle was using suggested that this type of circumstance was normal for his older brother, which he and Charlene knew to be untrue. Then again, maybe his uncle was referring to Heinz's ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Trouble seemed to just come looking for his older brother.

"I've never seen you at one of the family picnics." Charlene seemed really troubled by this, for she continued to skeptically eye the lanky, brown-haired man. "Are you not close with the family?"

"Nah, I travel a lot. And work. Don't got time for those." Justin absentmindedly fixed his tie and checked his cellphone. "Gonna have to make a, uh, business call when we get to your office, Roggie."

"It's Roger," Roger grounded out. He turned to Charlene, not wanting her to think that he had placed their trust into the wrong hands, though perhaps he was only trying to convince himself of this. "Uncle Justin does a lot of work in criminal justice. Whatever mess my brother and your ex-husband has gotten himself into, Uncle Justin can clean up."

"Legally?" Charlene asked, not backing down from her skepticism over the man.

"'Course!" Justin leaned back in his seat before popping forward. "We're here! Now, don't talk to any of those reporters. They'll twist your words faster than a Democrat in a Republican debate."

* * *

><p>Carl's nerves had him on edge and ready to heave at any moment, but his simultaneous excitement kept his stomach from doing anything more than flip-flops. As he navigated his scooter through the streets of Danville, he tried to avoid looking at the utility poles and broad side of buildings. Fliers coated every surface, all relaying information about the missing children, and it felt weird seeing the kids' faces everywhere when they were no where to be found.<p>

He had tried contacting Major Monogram before he left headquarters, but only static answered him. For the past hour he had been telling himself that he was on his own now, but it was not until he actually left the safety of their lab had he realized the precarious position he was now in. There was no going back, and there was no waiting for a bailout.

Major Monogram would not be monitoring him closely to make sure that, above all else, Carl was safe. He would not be appearing in the knick of time to use his amazing leadership and spy skills to defeat the enemy. Everything rested on Carl's shoulders.

"C'mon, Carl," he whispered to himself as he turned a corner sharply. His blue helmet shifted slightly, reminding him that he had forgotten to tighten the straps in his hurry to get on the road. "Get a hold of yourself. There are lives counting on you."

This, surprisingly, didn't make him feel any less nervous. His hands were clammy and tightly holding onto the rubber-coated handles. "You've had more than enough training to handle this. You can do it."

Carl had worked for O.W.C.A. for years. He was the best, unpaid intern that the agency ever had, even if Major Monogram never liked to admit it. He had been a field agent before, and he had watched Agent P complete his missions hundreds of times. More than 104 times, at least.

Still, now that everything was up to him, he had to think about the big and small details that could affect every moment of his mission. What if Professor Poofenplotz had set a trap for them? What if her other dimensionator was malfunctioned? What if his helmet gave him helmet hair and everybody was too busy laughing at him to do their job? What if he was somehow captured in a cage while wearing a squirrel costume?

There were just too many things that could go wrong, and Major Monogram had always considered these possibilities and weighed each and every risk. He wasn't perfect at it, but Carl wouldn't want anyone else to take over the position, especially himself.

Professor Poofenplotz's lair came into view, as most of their evil scientists preferred to have their lab stories high above the ground rather than safely hidden beneath the earth. He didn't pay much attention to the lab, for at the bottom of the building was Agent Pinky and Agent Peter the Panda. Carl revved up his engine and rode his scooter to their location.

Both of the secret agent animals saluted Carl as he parked the scooter in front of the building and took his helmet off. Carl waved them off, as now the three of them were acting as rogue agents. Formalities and respect could be reserved for after they completed what they set out to do.

"All right. We need to secure the premise and find the other dimensionator," Carl ordered, placing his helmet on the seat of his scooter. "We should try to keep a low profile so that we can avoid confrontation with Professor Poofenplotz."

Agent Pinky and Agent Peter the Panda caught themselves before they saluted, instead choosing to nod their head in order to convey their understanding. At least, Carl figured Agent Pinky was nodding. It was difficult to tell when the tiny Chihuahua normally shook its entire body.

As both agents took off, Carl decided to take a more "human" approach to entering the building. He walked up to the front door, studied it for a moment, and then knocked on the solid, metal texture. If Professor Poofenplotz answered, then he could serve as a distraction for Agent Pinky and Agent Peter the Panda.

A minute went by before Carl tried knocking again, but this time he busied himself with looking around for an intercom. Professor Poofenplotz did not live in an apartment complex similar to Dr. Doofenshmirtz, though the old woman tried to keep up with the newest technology. She was an evil scientist, after all.

On the side of the doorframe was a tiny panel that easily flicked open when Carl touched it. The corner of his lip twitched upward when he realized that the panel was a basic security system. All he had to do was enter in the correct password in order to release the lock.

"Or disable the system," he noted as he grabbed his disabler, which also doubled as a universal remote, from his coat pocket. He pointed the antenna at the panel, entered in the task, and waited merely seconds for the disabler to do its job. The lock clicked, and Carl showed himself inside Professor Poofenplotz's lair.

Almost immediately Carl noticed the video cameras placed around the entrance to the elevator. He was in clear sight of them, and the motion detectors had already zeroed in on his form. For a moment, he cringed, awaiting the sound of alarms or sirens to go off, but nothing happened. Professor Poofenplotz had to have been out, which was weird considering how inactive she had been for the past few weeks. Of course, Carl had to remind himself that Professor Poofenplotz was a very elderly woman. It would be hard for her to keep as active as Dr. Doofenshmirtz and the others.

Using his wristwatch, Carl communicated with the animal agents. "I'm in. The witch is outside her hull. I repeat, the witch is outside her hull. Over."

He grinned widely as he stepped into the elevator. It felt so cool to be able to say things like that!

The excitement dampened when the elevator doors opened once more, revealing a partly destroyed lair to the ex-unpaid intern, and fear tore into his shocked mind when Carl realized that Professor Poofenplotz's inactivity could be explained by whatever happened in her own home.

"Focus, focus," Carl hissed to himself, trying to fall back on his limited training as a field agent. He brought his wristwatch back to his lips, knowing that he had to give the animal agents fair warning. "There has been a past breach in the hull. The witch is still outside. Over."

A piece of debris fell from the ceiling, startling Carl, but no one was around to hear his rather unmanly shriek. He recovered, moving closer to the wreckage that spread from one side of the lair towards the center.

Blown to pieces, but still recognizable, in the side of Professor Poofenplotz's lair was Dr. Doofenshmirtz's hovercraft. As shocking and revealing as this was, Carl's focus was on an even larger discovery. Right in the center of the lair was a familiar, open portal that only required three guesses as to where it led, and the first two didn't count.

Stiffly, Carl held the wristwatch back up to his mouth. "Uh... The w-witch has already brewed—oh forget it! Professor Poofenplotz is involved in the kidnapping! They've already reached the second dimension! Report here now!"

* * *

><p>It had been a long time since Major Monogram had been knocked unconscious. Probably not since his time at The Academy when a fellow agent-in-training kicked him in the back of his head and knocked him unconscious.<p>

Once the echoing of his flashback stopped, Major Monogram peeked his eyes open, almost immediately regretting the decision when he found himself under a bright, white light. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut and tried to turn away from the light, but his entire body was immobile. He could only move neck to look a little ways over his shoulder.

He felt extremely envious of their nocturnal Agent O.

"You are the commander in charge of Agent P's squadron, are you not?"

Major Monogram furrowed his eyebrows, still refusing to look at the light again. "... Is a little girl's voice interrogating me?"

There was an indignant huff from somewhere alongside him. "Really? That's all you have to ask? I don't sound that young!"

The girl sounded younger than his son, but that only proved to him that he was, indeed, being interrogated by a child and not by an adult. And this little girl had a striking familiar voice. If Carl were here, he would have been able to place it right away.

He thanked his lucky stars that Carl wasn't here and was safe back at HQ while he was the one strapped to what seemed to be a metal chair in order to be interrogated by whomever this person was. Carl was far too young and inexperienced to have to suffer through an interrogation at such a stressful time; he would crack, and the sound of Carl cracking would make him crack. After he let Carl know how disappointed he was in him, of course.

"What do you want with me?" Major Monogram decided to ask after the prolonged silence. If he was able to get some answers, maybe he could find a way to relay them back to HQ.

"Hey!" the little girl snapped. "I'm asking the questions here! Now I'm going to ask you once more: Are you the commander in charge of Agent P's squadron?"

"What do you want with Agent P?" He decided to press his luck. The little girl hadn't followed up with a stereotypical threat, and if it was only a little girl who had him tied up, then he could take her. She no longer had the element of surprise on her side.

"I said that I was asking the questions!"

A hand that was definitely not a little girl's hand grabbed the short hair on the back of his head and forcefully pulled the strands up, pulling Major Monogram's head back as well.

"Hey," a male voice breathed into his ear. The male voice cracked, as though still going through puberty, and as the boy spoke, Major Monogram realized that it contained a German accent. It was definitely not Doofenshmirtz's voice, even if his thoughts went to Agent P's nemesis first. "The lady asked you a question. If you don't answer her from now on, then you're going to have to answer to me, and I don't ask nicely."

Major Monogram finally opened his eyes, glaring under the bright light at the shadowy figures off to his side. "I won't answer anything unless I'm told why I'm being interrogated."

"We know O.W.C.A. is behind Candace's brothers' kidnapping!" the little girl's voice wasted no time in filling Major Monogram in. "You had us fooled, thinking Dr. Doofenshmirtz had been trying to take over both dimensions once again, but it was really the agency!"

Something clicked in major Monogram's mind. "Both dimensions? You know of the second dimension?"

There were whispers, alerting Major Monogram that there were more than two people present. He couldn't make out what they were saying to each other, and they each kept their tone neutral, showing that whoever had captured him were highly trained in these sorts of matters.

The bright light in front of him dimmed, and as Major Monogram's eyes adjusted, he was able to make out the figures of two of Agent P's owners' friends: Isabella and the Bully.

"You two!" Major Monogram looks at them with wide eyes. "You've been reported as missing! What are you—"

"We're from the second dimension," Isabella cut him off. "We are not 'your' operatives."

"'MY' operatives?" Major Monogram emphasized the claim of ownership. "You're not my operatives. You're children! I only work with animal agents, and Carl."

"But our counterparts have been reported as missing?" Isabella and the Bully shared a look. All Major Monogram could think was that the two must have worked together an awful lot because they didn't speak a word to one another and still seemed to be on the same page. Carl had tried that with him, but it ended with disastrous results.

"What is going on?" Major Monogram had to ask out loud.

"That seems to be the question here," an electronic voice with an Indian accent jumped in. "My breach into this dimension's O.W.C.A. reveals no involvement in our ongoing war. We may have projected too much of our dimension's people onto theirs."

"Well, shit," the Bully swore. "This sucks. We got the wrong guy!"

"Chief!" another little girl's voice called out, causing Isabella to look over. "The police are here!"

"All right." Isabella turned back to Major Monogram. "We're going to need you to come with us. We'll provide a better explanation in our dimension."

Was he being given a choice? "Fine. But I want a full report."

* * *

><p>Dr. Bloodpudding paced back-and-forth in his lair as he waited for the other members of L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. to arrive, minus Dr. Doofenshmirtz for obvious reasons and Rodney for less obvious reasons. He actually wasn't sure what kept Rodney from gloating over his human nemesis' undeserved doom. It could be allergies.<p>

"What is the meaning of this?" The nasally voice of Dr. Diminutive took Dr. Bloodpudding's thoughts away from Rodney's absence. "You called a meeting because that stupid Dr. Doof is going to get what he deserves?"

"No." Dr. Bloodpudding fought his urge to smack his tiny colleague. "I called a meeting because I fear that we are about to deal with a far greater evil than ourselves."

"Preposterous!" one of the evil female scientists shouted. Her hair bounced as she talked, which was rather distracting. "If someone were eviler than I, wouldn't they have already taken over the Tri-State Area?"

"No," Dr. Bloodpudding repeated. "Dr. Doofenshmirtz is only the first victim. They are obviously wiping out the competition by using our evil flaws!"

There was an instantaneous murmur of agreement. Every evil scientist knew that those who had children put their children first, so someone had to have been using Dr. Doofenshmirtz's own daughter against him. The only other option was to accept that Dr. Doofenshmirtz really was pure evil, and that was a thought that was a bit more than difficult to accept.

"So, who is behind this?"

That was the question of the evening. "I do not know, but I do know that a giant robot was seen flying over to the Quad-State Area."

The Quad-State Area was a place that most of the evil scientists tried to ignore. A truly terrifying man had managed to nearly take over it, destroying his nemesis in the process, until Dr. Doofenshmirtz managed to put a stop to it. Though the details weren't known, there had been much concern over the fact that a person existed whom was more evil and capable than them, and that someone was still brought down by Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

"Well, then," Dr. Diminutive spoke up. "It's obvious that we should destroy them!"

"Yeah!" a few more evil scientists agreed. Most members already had their diabolical scheming faces on, but this always procured mixed results.

"Obviously," Dr. Bloodpudding droned, "but we need a plan."

The best and most mediocre villains were all here, so concocting a masterminded plan on such short notice shouldn't be too difficult. Working together, though, was another story.

"At least Doof and Rodney won't be at it." Dr. Bloodpudding sighed to himself. Everyone seemed to take solace in that fact.

* * *

><p>It was the climax of the movie when Ferb rushed forward, wrapping his arms around the smaller body in front of him and internally promising to never let this person out of his sight ever again. In his arms, Phineas stiffened, but after a few more moments, he returned the hug. It was considerably less enthusiastic than Ferb's, but after being kidnapped almost twenty-four hours ago and forced to survive in this godforsaken place, Ferb could not begrudge his brother for it.<p>

"Never, never, never again," Ferb whispered into Phineas' ear. He held Phineas tighter, gripping desperately at his brother's slightly tattered and dirtied shirt. He could breathe now. The hard part was over.

"Y-Yeah, but I'm a little confused." Phineas pulled back from the embrace, trying to look Ferb in the eye. "How did you get out? You told me that you couldn't—that only one of us could, an-and just why would you say that?"

"Who are you?" Doofenshmirtz questioned from behind them. "You can't be the kid who's been abducted, right? We're not that lucky."

Dread moved its way back into Ferb's mind as he doubted the person in front of him. He slowly released the fabric of Phineas' shirt and also took a step back in order to get a good look at his brother. The energetic gleam that was always present in the redhead's blue eyes was absent, leaving behind two vast pools of ocean blue with no sun reflecting off the top. Everything else looked the same, but the scientist was correct: They were not that lucky.

"Wait..." Phineas backed away from Ferb, getting a good look at them as well. "You're the other dimension guys, aren't you?"

"Well, we're from another dimension, yes," Doofenshmirtz answered, looking down at Perry for some sort of confirmation. The platypus didn't make a move to help him out. "Why? You know there's another one? Does everyone know there's another one? Is this some sort of cosmic joke that we're not in on?" He paused, glaring down at Perry. "Though, I bet you're in on it. Just, curse you, Perry the Platypus!"

For a moment, all three of them stared at Doofenshmirtz, who finally felt awkward and explained: "It makes me feel better when I get to say normal things when I'm away from home."

Normal was overrated, Ferb wanted to tell him, but he just couldn't find the words. He normally didn't feel a compulsive need to speak, but now that he had gotten so close to having his brother back, only to have Phineas torn away from him once more...

Ferb was tired.

"I'm the Phineas from this dimension," Not-Phineas, yet Still-Phineas, explained. Ferb went along with it, trying desperately to comprehend what else life decided to throw at him. "Huh? Why do you look confused? Don't you remember when we took down that dictator? You know, _him._"

Ferb looked at the person that Second Dimension Phineas was pointing towards, which happened to be their adult ally. Doofenshmirtz blinked, sharing Ferb's look of utter obliviousness as to what Second Dimension Phineas was talking about.

"Dictator?" Doofenshmirtz repeated. "I'm not a dictator!" There was a pause. "Yet." Perry glared at him. "Don't you start with me, Perry the Platypus. And I would prefer the term Evil Overlord, anyway."

Instead of paying attention to the insane man's ramblings, Perry emitted his trademark noise, shaking his head at Second Dimension Phineas as though to say whatever point he was trying to make was futile.

Obviously, Perry knew even more than he let on, but Ferb was too tired and emotionally drained to deduce anything further. Besides, he trusted Perry. His longtime pet and friend probably had a good explanation for what was going on. If only he could talk...

Ferb realized the irony of that statement only moments after he thought it.

"Look, we'll talk more later." The Second Dimension Phineas nervously glanced behind him.

"Yeah," Doofenshmirtz agreed, "or did we all forget that we were running for our lives?"

Apparently, they did forget for that short period of time that they were running for their lives for another figure jumped down from the same concrete wall as Second Dimension Phineas had, followed by even more figures all dressed in dark red military uniforms. There was a short cry from Second Dimension Phineas and Doofenshmirtz as the figures wasted no time in grabbing them. Perry did not even have time to leap towards Ferb, finding his arms and legs quickly immobilized by chains.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the great and powerful Agent P. What a pleasure. And look, you even brought the ones we've been looking for."

It chilled Agent P to the bone to hear a reminiscent of Carl's usually friendly tone used in such a mocking manner. The unpaid intern stepped out from behind numerous soldiers who wore uniforms identical to Carl's. Perry did not even have to physically see him to know that this Carl was not the dorky, unpaid intern who was devoted to working for Major Monogram. The cold voice could only belong to a Carl from another dimension.

"Sorry about not personally retrieving you from your dimension, but we have to keep that old hag busy somehow. Exercise is good for old age." A teasing smile spread across Second Dimension Carl's lips. "O.W.C.A. will take over now."

Still smiling, Second Dimension Carl turned to the soldiers who were gathered around the others. He approached Second Dimension Phineas, and Perry watched as the boy trembled more and more as Second Dimension Carl focused solely on him.

"My, my, Phineas. Escaping your prison cell? Naughty, naughty. You even left your beloved brother behind—how selfish of you!" Second Dimension Carl giggled to himself in a gleeful manner. "I wonder, would you even care if I made Ferb take your punishment for you?"

"No!" Second Dimension Phineas' eyes were wide as he shrieked. "Don't touch him! Please, don't touch him!"

It hurt. It hurt both Perry and Ferb to hear the terror and desperation in Second Dimension Phineas' voice. Second Dimension Carl clearly did not share this sentiment. With his toothy grin and predatory gaze, he leaned forward and pinched Second Dimension Phineas' cheek, overly delighted when tears welled up in the boy's eyes.

"Hm, that's interesting. You see, I recall specifically telling you to not cause me any problems, but here we are." Second Dimension Carl let go of Second Dimension Phineas' cheek. "And yet, you want me to listen to you? Now, how is that fair?"

Perry blinked, and just in that millisecond Second Dimension Carl's disconcerting grin had dropped, and the false happiness that the curly-haired man presented had changed to a death glare.

"Oh, I see. It's okay to not listen to Carl. It's okay to ignore pathetic, little Carl." The alternate version of Carl gritted his teeth. He roughly grabbed Second Dimension Phineas' chin, forcing the boy to look up at him. "After your punishment, we'll see if you feel the need to be such a troublemaker."

"How is he the troublemaker when you're the one holding him captive?"

Ferb's harsh tone jolted Perry from his own seething rage over the treatment of his other owner's alternate dimension self. He struggled to free himself of his binding, especially when he saw Second Dimension Carl turn his attention to Ferb. This Carl made his skin crawl, and he did not want him anywhere near his owner.

Instead of glaring or even threatening Ferb, Second Dimension Carl broke out in his cruel smile once more. He uncharacteristically let out an evil cackle, holding his side as though something humorous had happened.

"Oh, man!" Second Dimension Carl struggled to breathe. "This must have been such a disappointment for you!" He stopped laughing, but his creepy smile remained in place as he sauntered over to Ferb, who unconsciously tensed as Second Dimension Carl neared him. "Getting all the way to the second dimension and running into your lost brother, only to discover that he's not your brother at all! I am so sorry I missed your expression when you realized." Second Dimension Carl laughed a bit more.

"Where's Phineas." Ferb demanded to know with no inflection in his voice. He bravely stared the crazed man down. "Where's my brother!"

Second Dimension Carl stopped laughing and remained cavalier as he shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. I heard rumor that he was dead—the boss doesn't take too kindly to uncooperative kids—but he's probably just near death. Beaten to a bloody pulp, struggling to breathe, in so much pain that he wished he could die already." Second Dimension Carl paused for a moment to smirk at Ferb. "He screamed a lot for you, you know? Cried and begged for his brother to come save him." He ruffled Ferb's green hair; Ferb just glared up at him while Perry growled, unable to do anything else from his position. "It was really quite endearing. He must love you a lot."

"Aren't you Major Monobrain's kid?"

Disregarding the tension in the atmosphere, Doofenshmirtz had a look of enlightenment upon his face as though he had spent the entire duration of the chilling conversation trying to figure out who Second Dimension Carl was. His obliviousness was enough for Perry to direct his ire at him for a moment.

Like before, Second Dimension's Carl carefree expression vanished. A shadow seemed to cast over his face as he addressed Doofenshmirtz, "What did you say?"

"Yeah," Doofenshmirtz continued to ignore the mounting tension. "You're that intern of his—Kyle!"

"It's Carl," the curly-haired man snapped.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. But help me out here; I'm confused. Aren't you a good guy? I mean "good" as a subjective term for "good versus evil," but aren't you, like, Major Monobrain's puppy?"

There was little in the world that could frighten Perry, most of which revolved around harm coming to his family. Second Dimension Carl's dark expression froze the blood in his veins as he stared down Doofenshmirtz.

"Kid. Puppy. Is that all I am to you? _An intern?_"

Doofenshmirtz stared blankly back at him. "... Yes?"

A thick block of tension descended upon them, making it hard to breathe let alone feel terror for the fickle, mad scientist. Second Dimension Carl stared unblinkingly at Doofenshmirtz whose own eyes grew wide with confusion.

"If you weren't marked..." Second Dimension Carl began, but he quickly composed himself before he could finish, turning away from a still-befuddled Doofenshmirtz. "Bring Phineas back to his cell. Put the rest in the S-block."

Not one of the dark figures wasted a moment in dragging the group off towards the prison. Perry watched Second Dimension Carl continue to glare at Doofenshmirtz until he realized that the no-longer-a-secret agent was staring at him. There was a brief moment when the anger and cruelty disappeared behind dark blue eyes, replaced with an unreadable expression that Perry had only seen his Carl with once, and that had been after a particularly tiring day on the job where all of them just wanted to go home and crawl into bed.

Perry didn't know what the sudden expression meant, but he also knew he had more pressing matters to attend to, especially since Second Dimension Carl was still working under somebody.


End file.
